


A Long Shadowed Night

by Chichirinoda



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Confinement, Enemies to Lovers, Happy Ending, Human Experimentation, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Rape/Non-con Elements, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-04-22 15:02:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 57,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14311272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chichirinoda/pseuds/Chichirinoda
Summary: Jack Morrison has been wandering the world, fighting Talon as Soldier:76. He's a thorn in their side, and sooner or later one has to expect that they would strike back. But Reaper chooses to bring him back to Talon, instead of killing him.Could it be there's a hint of his old lover Reyes buried deep inside the monster he's become? Jack can't see a hint of that...at first.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I take a few small liberties with canon. Retribution-compliant. Lots of headcanon. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The Soldier had spent a lot of time over the last several years in the grittiest, filthiest underbellies of the world. The slums of Mexico. The wartorn alleys of Russia and Brazil. He had travelled the world, and he hadn't stayed in five star hotels. 

Numbani was a nice city. A rich city. But it had a seedy underclass like everywhere else, and like a lot of places, those darker zones were being dragged even deeper into the shadows by Talon. So he went to Numbani, and he stalked the drug dealers with their experimental drugs, and the weapons traders, carrying refurbished Omnic parts and modded assault weapons. 

This time, though, someone was waiting for him.

He hadn't known if Talon was aware of what he was doing. He tried to keep a low profile and make sure that no one who saw his uniform got out alive to talk about it. He struck quickly and decisively, and then moved on - sometimes leaving a country entirely so that Talon wouldn't know if he was one person on a mission, or an entire army of resistance. The less they knew about him, the better.

But somewhere, he had slipped up. 

He followed rumours of a major weapons deal about to go down in a warehouse on the outskirts of town. He had scouted the place the day before and saw signs of the preparations - large crates likely holding OR15 rifles and Bastion cannons being loaded alongside more mundane cargo intended to camouflage the real goods. 

When he arrived that night, pulse rifle ready and his tac visor charged, there had been no deal going on. When he plunged into the building through a high window, instead of finding a group of twitchy criminals in the midst of their negotiation, he found Reaper. 

And Reaper was ready for him.

The first indication Jack had that something had gone wrong was the tiniest of whispers, a susurration of sound like gauze brushing against concrete, right behind him. He whirled around, but a shotgun blast went off almost in his face, the buckshot glancing off of his mask with enough force to make his head ring, but thankfully not taking off his face. He fired reflexively, but Jack's pulse rifle shots had gone harmlessly through the monster, who faded insubstantial and moved like a ghost. 

Still disoriented from the shotgun blast, Jack tried to move, to get some cover, but Reaper was on him before he could move more than a foot. Jack went down under his enemy's weight, a knee harsh in the small of his back and a clawed hand grabbing his wrist. The pulse rifle was yanked out of Jack's hands and sent skittering far out of reach. 

Reaper wrenched Jack's arm tightly behind him, his claws biting through the fabric of his flak jacket and into his wrist. Jack grunted, his shoulder screaming in pain, and felt the hot muzzle of one of Reaper's guns pressed to the all-but-unprotected back of his head.

"Do it, you bastard," Jack growled. His heart roared in his ears, a pounding that blotted out the soft rumbling of Reaper's laughter.

Or had he stopped laughing? Jack waited to die, counting down his last heartbeats, but that final blast never came. The iron grip of the creature didn't let up, either, and Jack wondered what he was waiting for. 

He turned his head, an inch. Two. His neck popped, but he saw the dark, shadowed form of the masked man looming over him. He was still as a corpse and the death's head mask gave no indication of what he was doing. 

"Well?" Jack challenged him. 

"Jack...Morrison..." the Reaper purred. "You're alive."

Jack's stomach dropped at the sound of his name on the creature's lips. "How do you know me?" he said.

Instead of answering, Reaper slammed the butt of his shotgun into the back of Jack's head. There was an explosion of light and pain, and Jack fell deeply into oblivion.

~ ~ ~

Jack woke freezing, and still tasting the harsh metallic flavour of blood in his mouth. His bare cheek was pressed against a hard floor surface, and his head pounded. His shoulder was still painful as well, both of his arms pulled back and his wrists cuffed together. At some point, he had apparently bitten his own tongue, which accounted for the blood in his mouth.

He wasn't naked, but he might as well have been. Someone had stripped off all of his gear, from his boots to his jacket, and his tac visor of course. He was wearing a thin t-shirt and his pants, and that was it. 

He spit out a wad of half-congealed blood and struggled to sit up, pulling his knees up towards his chest to give himself leverage without the benefit of using his hands. Chains rattled as he moved.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes.

He was alone in a room that appeared to be part of a basement. Bare pipes protruded from the walls and ceiling - he was clearly chained to one of them. The floor was raw concrete, and a single naked bulb swung from the ceiling, providing a harsh illumination. Across from him, more than ten feet away, was a steel door. He assumed it was locked.

He tugged on his chains, but the pipe they were attached to was solid enough that he couldn't feel any give. With some experimentation, he determined that he could stand up and move a foot or two away from the wall before reaching the limit of the chain, but there was nowhere to go. He sat back down against the wall, trying without success to find a comfortable position. They hadn't even given him a bucket to piss in, though there was an ominously stained drain in the floor. 

Whoever "they" were. Talon? He had to assume that this was Talon, but he couldn't understand why he was alive. What use was he to Reaper? If they wanted to stop him from interfering in their criminal enterprises, then they'd had ample opportunity to kill him. Instead, Reaper had knocked him out and taken him prisoner. Why?

A few possibilities came to mind, each more distasteful and distressing than the last. The only possible use he could really see was as bait for the rest of the Overwatch agents scattered around the world. Reaper seemed to have made it his personal mission to kill each and every one of them - that would be easier if they knew Jack was alive, and tried to rescue him. 

Assuming any of his former colleagues were still loyal to him after his failures. 

No sooner had he followed this train of thought to its unhappy conclusion, but there was a clang of a lock disengaging and the door opened. Two goons with more muscle than brains, and bearing obvious cybernetic enhancements, shouldered into the room. 

"What do you want?" Jack demanded, but neither man spoke or acknowledged him. They moved as one, unlocking the chains and hauling him up, one to a side. It was generous to say that he was escorted from the room - he was all but carried, his feet scarcely brushing the floor.

He seriously considered fighting back, but kept his peace for now. He had no idea what was out there, where he was, or how many guns and guards stood between himself and freedom. Better to gather information, and wait for his best opportunity.

There was a series of other doors that they passed, each one identical with no hint of what lay on the other side. Beyond some of them, though, he heard moans or cries of pain or anguish. Jack's jailers whisked him past them all, and into an elevator, with a handprint ID pad.

Well, that he could bypass. He just needed someone's hand - whether or not it was still attached was another matter.

The elevator was clean and almost silent as it rose for a surprisingly long time. Jack studied his captors, and the elevator itself, but there was no hint about his location from what he could see. Even when the elevator doors opened, all he saw was a clean hallway, smelling of disinfectant and chemicals. 

"Where am I?" he asked, but the question was ignored. 

It didn't take long before he encountered someone more talkative. His captors dragged him through yet another door, and into a large laboratory.

"Ah, Commander Morrison, I'm so glad you could join us."

Jack wished he were surprised by the sight of that voice's owner. "Moira O'Deorain," he growled. The scientist stood in the centre of the room, a hand resting lightly on the surface of a raised hospital bed with restraints built into the corners. She was smiling, but her eyes were cold.

"That's 'doctor', to you," she said with a smirk.

She looked different from the last time he had seen her - something weird about her right eye, and her right arm looked, for lack of a better description, corrupted. Her weapon had clearly been upgraded over the years, and seemed to be much more advanced than the suit she had worn during her Blackwatch days. Clearly, she had continued to work on upgrades. 

She gestured, and her thugs brought Jack forward, past several pieces of equipment. Jack was deeply tempted to try to break free again, particularly as he got closer to the scientist and her examination table. 

He turned his head, assessing his surroundings as his heart rate increased. He had no equipment, no chance of overpowering these two cyborgs alone, and who knew what Moira could do with that thing she was wearing, but he was rapidly running out of time. 

Then he spotted Reaper, standing in the corner. The sight of him was unexpected, and shut down any possible chance of escaping. His odds had already been dismal. Against four of them? It was even more hopeless.

Time to try something other than violence to accomplish his goals. He looked at Moira.

"What do you want with me?" he asked. 

"Mmm, I haven't decided yet," she said. She reached out with her right hand, and stroked his cheek. He felt a sort of sickening _pull_ , and his knees buckled as a wave of weakness passed over him. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she sighed with pleasure. "I thought perhaps I would try a new formula I've been working on. But you'll need to be broken in, first." Her eyes danced with amusement. "Like a stallion to saddle."

She gestured again, and the two thugs manhandled Jack onto the bed. He _did_ strain against their hold now, kicking out and writhing as they grabbed his wrists and unlocked his bonds so they could secure him to the bed.

Moira moved away, well out of the range of his struggles, and continued on like Jack wasn't in the midst of fighting for his life. "It'll take time to prepare you, if the last five years haven't broken you already. I _am_ surprised to discover that you're the one who's been such a thorn in our side. Soldier 76, they call you. As if you were just a number."

Manacles closed around Jack's wrists and ankles, securing him spread-eagled on the bed. The guards moved away and Jack was left there, breathing rapidly as if he'd just run a race, bruised and humiliated. He might as well have just let them lead him meekly to the slaughter.

"Torturing me isn't going to get you anything," he snarled.

"Oh Commander," she murmured. "It'll bring me _satisfaction_." She patted his cheek again. Anticipating another sickening attack like the one before, he twitched and jerked away, but she chuckled. "And, of course, it'll advance scientific knowledge. Isn't that something we should all support?"

"You're sick," Jack said. "Corrupt inside and out."

She shrugged. "You may believe so." 

Jack heard that sound again, of fabric sliding over a slick surface, and abruptly the Reaper solidified beside his bed. Reaper gazed down at Jack, whose heart rate doubled immediately. The last thing he needed was this monster getting in on the action. 

But when the Reaper spoke, he addressed Moira. "What are you going to do to him?"

Moira turned away and opened a cabinet, sorting through several containers containing brightly-coloured liquids. "What is it to you? What are you even doing in my lab, anyway?"

"I brought him in."

Moira paused and turned back to him. "So you did," she said, brows furrowing slightly in confusion. "So what?"

The Reaper put a hand on Jack's chest. His claws flexed, dimpling Jack's flesh. "So _I_ brought him in. He's mine."

The last traces of Moira's smile vanished. She folded her arms across her chest and looked down her nose at Reaper. "Yours?"

"Yes. I want him, first. When I'm done with him--" The Reaper paused, glancing down at Jack, and then up at her again. "Then you can have him. But I brought him in."

Jack really didn't appreciate being fought over like Moira and Reaper were two feral dogs fighting over a scrap of food. Moira appeared distinctly unimpressed, glaring down at the two of them with lips thin and her eyes narrowed. 

Finally, she turned away with a dismissive gesture. "Fine. I'm going to Greece in the morning, anyway, so I can't begin any new therapies today. You can have him until I return, but don't kill him."

Reaper rumbled a soft, wordless acknowledgement of this command. Then he reached for Jack. 

Jack felt Reaper's arms slide around him, and then darkness swirled around them both. The Reaper turned to mist, but somehow still managed to buoy him up and away. Jack wondered about the restraints for a moment, only to realize that they must have both become somehow insubstantial, and he was free. 

But that realization of freedom came hard on the heels of another realization - he had no idea what would happen if he tried to fight off Reaper right now. So he held still while the Reaper took him wherever he planned to begin the next phase of Jack's nightmare.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reaper takes Jack for a little privacy so they can get to know each other better.
> 
> ...not like THAT, you pervs.
> 
> ...yet...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to some feedback, I did make minor tweaks to this chapter at the beginning of the second scene. This is due to some information I was missing about historical stuff about how Overwatch ultimately fell. So if you're re-reading it and realize a couple of paragraphs are different, that's why :)

Reaper carried his prey from Her laboratory and into his own sanctum. 

If Morrison had thought he was in the basement before, he was about to be surprised. He was going even deeper now.

This building was one of Talon's most important headquarters, and so Reaper and Moira had had plenty of time to make their mark and find - or create - places where they were comfortable. Reaper's own place was deep underground, and only accessible through a bent length of pipe narrower than a human wrist.

Since he could become insubstantial, even if only for a few seconds, he could get inside. Not even She could get in here.

Black smoke poured out of the pipe and formed into the shape of two men. Reaper had never taken anyone with him before, and he was pleased to discover that it was possible. He landed in the room and allowed Morrison to fall from his arms the moment both of them were solid again.

Morrison sprawled on the floor, coughing and shuddering, and Reaper moved to a convenient perch, squatting comfortably in a corner to watch him.

He had no idea why the man wasn't dead. He had intended to kill him - he was a thorn in their side. And besides, he did _love_ to kill. For one moment, as he had knelt over the man's prone body, he had savoured the coming blast. He had revelled in the coming violence, knowing that all it would take was the tiniest squeeze of a finger, and then the man's brains would be flowing out over the floor.

But then the Soldier had spoken, and something had changed. 

Reaper had recognized the voice - which was odd, because he didn't recall ever meeting the former Commander of Overwatch. But more strangely, that voice had given him a new desire - an impulse to take the man, instead of killing him.

He still didn't know why.

But he was sure he would figure it out. He just needed some time, and if She destroyed this man, turned him into a monster or replaced his brain, or something else, then Reaper would never understand. That was why he had intervened and asserted himself.

He didn't like to think about the possibility that there was another reason he had decided to bring the man here.

The man was stirring. Morrison sat up, wiping sweat from his face. Apparently being insubstantial didn't agree with him, but colour was returning to his scarred skin. A lot more of it was bared than had been when they'd first met in Numbani. His face was naked to Reaper's eyes, scarred and ravaged by age, but still (Still? How did he know?) handsome. His arms, too, showed signs of hard use, but were muscled and powerful. The man might be grey with age and experience, but he was far from weak.

Worthy prey. Reaper wondered what else he might find under the clothes his prey was still wearing.

Reaper drew his shotguns from his belt, and blue eyes turned in his direction, narrowed. The look of revulsion and anger in Morrison's face made Reaper want to fire, turn that expression into so much meat, but instead he set the two guns down on a high shelf. They would be hard for Morrison to reach without directly assaulting Reaper, who was confident he could take the man down again.

The room was Spartan, just a few items on shelves - books, his medicine, some trophies he'd taken from important kills, and an extra mask. There was no bed, no human amenities. He had no need for sleep, or anything else.

With the guns stowed, Reaper sat down on the bare floor and regarded his prey. Morrison stared back for a long moment, and it was he who finally broke the silence.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Reaper didn't answer. He didn't know the answer, but he didn't want to admit that, so he said nothing. 

Eventually, Morrison got up and walked around the room. He gave Reaper a wide berth, and that was fine. Morrison examined the small hole where the pipe protruded into the room, and hunted through the room for other features. It was a short search - there was no door, no cameras, nothing to find. He did pick up a few of Reaper's books, and touched one of the trinkets in a lingering manner.

Perhaps he recognized that badge. After all, it had belonged to a dead Overwatch agent.

Finally, Morrison ran out of things to look at, and returned his gaze to Reaper. "What the hell do you _want_?" he asked, his tone taking on a deeper edge of annoyance.

That, Reaper had an answer for. It wasn't a complete answer, but he could say something. 

"You."

There it was. A flicker of fear edging out the rage in Morrison's blue eyes. 

Beautiful eyes.

It only lasted for an instant, but Reaper did see it and he chuckled softly to himself. This was a good game. He could always kill Morrison later, if he tired of him, but for now it might be enjoyable to see how many ways he could frighten him. 

He already had an idea for something else to try. He reached up and lowered his hood, then removed his mask. He was certain that the sight of his visage would truly terrify the human. He didn't know what his own face looked like - She had forbidden him from looking in a mirror, and honestly, what use did he have for them? But he was certain it had to be horrifying. He was Death, after all.

Morrison's eyes widened and the blood drained from his face, just as Reaper had anticipated. He grinned, a laugh bubbling up in his chest, his claws opening as his amusement peaked.

And then Morrison spoke again. His voice was raw. "...Gabe?"

The laugh died in Reaper's throat, unvoiced. The name was meaningless to him, yet it sent a knife through his brain. The pain was immediate and baffling.

Before he realized Morrison was moving, the man was right in front of him. There was no fear in his eyes like Reaper had thought, but he was unfamiliar with the emotion that was present instead. It wasn't anger at all, and it wasn't terror. 

It was...

It _was_ horror, but of a different kind. And there was also sadness. And confusion.

"My god," Jack was saying. "Reyes, it's you. It's been you all along." And now the anger was back, burning an unprotected Reaper with its flames. "You _piece of shit_. I know you hate me, but when are you ever going to be satisfied? Isn't it enough to betray us to Talon - you have to hunt us all down, too?"

Reaper moved. He struck out, pushing the human away, and rose up and away. He had the presence of mind to retrieve his weapons, and then he dove into the pipe and fled.

~ ~ ~

Jack thought for a moment that the thing his best friend had become would kill him. Claws flashed in his face, raked at his chest, but instead of cutting, Jack was merely shoved aside to sprawl on the floor instead of being disemboweled. He was left to watch helplessly as Gabriel Reyes flowed away from him like water. In an instant, the man was gone, sliding up that narrow pipe and vanishing from sight.

Rage pulsed in his chest, deeper than the horror. In all these years, he had never known the truth about what had happened to his former partner. 

Gabriel had made mistakes, sure. He had exposed Blackwatch in Venice, and things had only seemed to go downhill from there. Eventually, even their own relationship had faltered. In the last days, Jack and Gabriel had scarcely talked, except professionally. But never, never had Jack worried that Gabriel was a traitor.

And then Talon had bombed the Swiss headquarters, nearly killing Jack and - he had thought - murdering Gabriel. 

He assumed that Moira was always Talon's creature, that she had joined Blackwatch for the express purpose of destroying them. Contrary to the speculation and spin in the news, it was her who had had betrayed them on her way out in Switzerland, not Gabe. Gabriel's death that day had been part of what fueled Jack's mission to destroy Talon. 

He had never considered the possibility that Gabriel had become the monster that had risen over the last few years, with apparently only one singular desire - to hunt down and kill every last scattered former agent of Overwatch. But now he knew that Gabriel had been no victim, he had been a part of the conspiracy, and his hatred towards Jack and Overwatch had apparently burned far deeper than Jack ever could have suspected.

He had only these thoughts and realizations to focus on, but there was nothing he could do about them. As the hours drew out, the hot, sick rage he felt faded to mere nausea. 

The room Reaper had brought him to was all but featureless, giving him little to occupy his mind. Was this his home? It was more like an oubliette than a bedroom, lacking a bed or even a pallet on the floor. The walls and ceiling appeared to be solid concrete, and the only ventilation seemed to be provided through the same pipe they had come in through. 

Jack explored the room again, taking his time more than he'd been able to do with Reaper watching him. An opportunity to search the shelf that had previously been blocked by Reaper turned up one of the only two interesting items in the room - an unmarked pill bottle containing a multitude of small purple pills. He pocketed this. 

The other interesting item was Gabriel's old Blackwatch badge, which he tried not to look at again. Its presence, discarded amongst a forest of small meaningless trinkets that definitely were _not_ Gabriel's old things, bothered him on a level he didn't feel up to facing.

He was eventually driven to picking up one of the books and thumbing through it. It was a horror novel, trashy, and a strange thing to find in the den of a creature like Reaper. Jack read it without much interest. 

He could only hope that Reaper intended to come back, because there was no way that Jack could escape on his own.

Though he had to assume that whatever reason Reaper had had to keep him alive, he wouldn't change his mind just because Jack had realized who he was. He still didn't even understand Reaper's reaction. He had taken off his mask, then had seemed shocked that Jack recognized him. Yet another question without an answer to add to the pile.

Jack had no idea how much time had passed by the time he heard a soft noise and looked up to see black smoke flowing from the pipe on the wall. He had read one of Reaper's books cover to cover and started in on another one, which told him little about what time of day it might be. He hadn't seen a window or a clock since he woke up in Talon's hands.

He stayed where he was, sitting in the middle of the room, and set the book on the floor beside him as he waited for Gabriel to reform. A part of him was tense, but he did his best to appear relaxed and uncaring.

Gabriel had his mask in place and his hood hiding the rest of him. Jack couldn't help wondering what he would see if he took those robes off. His face had looked normal - older, a touch of grey in his black hair, but far less altered by time than Jack himself was. His eyes, though, had been like two staring holes in Gabriel's skull, as if the man Jack had known was gone, and some evil spirit was riding his body.

The two men regarded each other in silence for a few moments, and then Reaper dove for Jack.

Jack made no effort to avoid the attack. Reaper landed on top of him and Jack's back hit the floor, with the other man straddling him and claws pressed against his chest. The mask leaned down, close to Jack's face.

"You belong to me," Reaper growled. He smelled of dust and smoke, not a hint of anything _human_. It turned Jack's stomach. "Say it."

Jack stared up at that mask. Fighting wouldn't get him anything but dead. The only option he had left was to throw Reaper off balance and hope for an opportunity. So he forced himself to relax under the threatening weight. "No."

Reaper hissed like an angry cat, and his claws bit into Jack's skin, drawing blood. "If you surrender yourself to me, I'll let you out of this room. Say it."

Regardless of what he did, he was probably going to die here, but at least he would die as a man. "I don't need to be let out of this room."

" _Lies_. You're human, you need to eat, to sleep, to piss. I can give you those things, or I can leave you here to starve to death."

"Give me to O'Deorain if you want," Jack said, though his stomach flipped over at his own words. "I don't care. Or we can do this another way. Take off that mask."

Reaper let out a low, rage-filled noise. Not a noise any human throat could create. He reared back and struck Jack hard across the face, ringing his bell and forcing his head to turn to the side.

Jack just smiled.

"You're mine whether you say it or not," Reaper whispered. "And you'll never get out of here for the rest of your life."

Jack shrugged, and looked up at Reaper again. "What did she do to you, Gabriel?"

"She _made_ me." Reaper leaned down again. "Whoever you think I am, I'm not that person. I don't know that name."

For the first time since this latest confrontation began, Jack lost his cool. He blinked and stared up at him. "What do you mean you don't _know_?"

"You heard me." 

Jack cursed inwardly. He had been dominating in this mind game they were playing, but now Reaper sounded calm again, self-assured. He might yet lose this battle of wills. 

Reaper closed his hand around Jack's throat and squeezed _just_ enough that Jack struggled to draw his next breath. "Now. Tell me you belong to me."

"No," Jack gasped, and the grip tightened. Claws dug into his tender skin. 

"Say it or you die _now_ ," Reaper snarled.

"Gabriel!" Jack said, desperately. Blackness was eating at the edges of his vision. "Stop...this."

Reaper released his hold to strike him a second time. Jack drew in a huge breath in the few moments of reprieve, clinging desperately to consciousness, but he only got one breath in before Reaper closed his hand around his throat again.

"Say it or die," Reaper purred.

Jack closed his eyes. Death beckoned. He told himself it would be a relief, a rest. Finally, he'd be free.

But he didn't deserve to just lie down and quit. He didn't deserve to take refuge in pride and abandon his duty.

"I'm yours," he whispered. With no air, he could do no more than mouth the words weakly.

Reaper's satisfied laughter followed him down into darkness for a second time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reaper gets some advice from Moira about how to handle his new toy, and Jack and Reaper share a revelation.

Reaper left his prey sprawled like a broken doll and returned to the upper floors of the building. After a brief search, he found Moira in Her suite near the top of the building, packing for Her trip to Oasis.

She scarcely looked up when he misted into the room, neatly packing away Her equipment with careful attention. Reaper waited, certain She'd acknowledge him sooner or later.

"Is he still alive?" She asked presently, lips curving upwards with wry amusement.

"For now."

"Fascinating."

He twitched. Not surprising that She would realize his own behaviour was strange. There was no one who knew him more intimately than She did.

She closed the equipment case and turned towards him, long fingers resting on each bicep as She crossed Her arms and regarded him with the curiosity an entomologist might show a particularly interesting insect. "What is your plan, precisely?"

He had no answer for Her. "I'm...improvising," he admitted.

"Hmm."

He'd displeased Her, that much was clear. Her eyes were narrowed and Her long fingernails tapped a slow rhythm on Her sleeve. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd done wrong - while his behaviour was odd, he hadn't compromised Talon, and he was in control. He struggled for a moment, then said as much.

"He's behaving himself, and he can't escape. You have nothing to worry about."

That brought him the smile he'd hoped to see. "Oh my dear creation, I'm not _worried_." She raised a hand and crooked a finger. "Come here."

He approached obediently, and She hooked two fingers under his chin, just behind his mask, turning his head from side to side as if to inspect him. "Is it a companion that you want? Are you lonely?"

He frowned. Was that the reason for his behaviour? Loneliness. He wasn't sure what that felt like.

She didn't appear to be expecting an answer, as She continued. "I could remake him in your image, if you wish. You and he would be an unstoppable force, together." 

That image _did_ have attraction to it. He gave a soft exhalation, a sound of pleasure, and She all but purred like a satisfied cat. "Ah... yes. I will, then. But you'll need to break him first, make him ready. It wouldn't do to give him all that power, and have him use it to continue to rebel against us. He needs to be as reliable as you are."

 _Yes_. This was what he had come to Her for. "How?" he breathed. 

Her fingers caressed his cheek, sending tingles crawling over his skin. "You _should_ place him in his cell, where I put him, and allow my people to do what they're good at. But you want to do it yourself, don't you?"

He swallowed, and made a soft, affirmative noise. Her thumb stroked down over his Adam's apple. Up and down. 

"Very well. I'll indulge you in this, since it's important to you. Here is what you should do." She leaned closer, murmuring into his ear. "Bring him food and water, blankets, and a means for him to eliminate waste. Make his use of them conditional upon his pleasing you in every way you desire. Become his sole source of pleasure, and of deprivation. Become his god, and he will worship you. Understand?"

Reaper shivered, his eyes closing, and he nodded. "Yes..." He let out a soft, rumble of a laugh. It was easy. He could do this. "Yes, I understand."

"Very good." She patted him on the cheek and released Her hold on him. He breathed in deep, as if it were the first breath of air he'd had in minutes, as She turned Her attention away and picked up Her suitcase. "I will be gone for a week for a Ministry function. When I return, I'll inspect your progress on him, and I expect you to have made _significant_ inroads by that time. If not, then this experiment will be over. He will be mine to finish the work, and perhaps after I'm done with him you'll have him back."

A week. He had no idea if that was long enough, but it would have to be. She didn't change Her mind, he knew from long experience. "Very well."

She favoured him with a smile. "Don't forget to take your medication."

"I won't."

"Good boy." She turned, and left. 

Reaper considered for a moment, then went to seek out the kitchen. He was pretty sure he knew where it was, though he'd never actually been there.

~ ~ ~

Jack was just hovering on the edge of regaining consciousness when he heard the hissing sound of Reaper's return. He turned his head towards the threat, struggling to open his eyes, and heard himself make a soft, rasping groan.

He had no idea how long he'd been out, though he didn't imagine it had been a very long time. His throat pulsed with forming bruises, and he lifted a hand to rub it, and then the back of his head. Somewhere along the line during their struggle, he'd struck his skull on the concrete, though that injury didn't seem serious. 

Reaper had nearly killed him, and then apparently had just abandoned him.

Something hit the ground right by his head and he flinched back and away, finally succeeding in opening his eyes. Eventually, he focused on what it was - a steel bucket. From somewhere, he smelled something heavenly, and his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten in at least a day, and his body was now angrily chewing him out for it.

He pushed himself up, casting his eyes towards the monster that had once been his partner, and then back at the bucket. Inside it was a few bottles of water, and a take-out box that smelled of Chinese food. 

Reaper tossed something else to land beside the bucket - a bundle of fabric. Jack touched it, unfolded a corner, and discovered it was a field combat sleeping sack, lightweight and thermal, made for sleeping outdoors. Or possibly, on unadorned concrete floors.

"What's all this?" he asked, his voice coming out as a harsh rasp. He stubbornly resisted the urge to reach for the food and water. Surely it didn't come free. 

"This is a gift," Reaper said. He set the shotguns up on the high shelf again, apparently not noticing the theft of his medication, and then crouched down in the corner, to observe. "Because you gave yourself to me, I've decided not to kill you. You get food and water, and blankets, and a pot to piss in."

So this was how it was going to be. Jack sighed and pushed himself up to stand, his joints creaking at the movement. He picked up the sleeping bag first and shook it out, moving in an unhurried manner. 

"How long are you planning on keeping me alive in this place?" he asked casually.

"Until I decide to do something else with you," Reaper said.

Jack spread the sleeping bag out on the floor in the opposite side of the room from where Reaper was. He emptied the bucket and set it down in a corner between them, and then sat on the pallet with a bottle of water and the box of Chinese food. 

There had been times over the last few years when he had suffered deprivation. Wandering around the world fighting Talon had sometimes left him with little money for anything besides ammo, and food had occasionally taken second priority. He knew not to over-indulge. So despite the fact that the smell of the food was maddening to him, he opened a bottle of water and took a few sips, forcing himself not to hurry.

His stomach settled, and he took a larger gulp from the water. 

"You don't have anything better to do?" he asked. It was difficult not to be snide. If Reaper really didn't remember who he was, then why was he interested in Jack at all? He had been cutting a swath through their former Overwatch agents for years - yet he was intending to keep Jack alive so long as he was cooperative.

Well, Jack wasn't about to be _too_ cooperative. He was conscious of the pills in his pocket, wondering what they might be for.

"Not right now," Reaper said. "My mission is here."

That sharpened Jack's attention. He set the empty water bottle aside and pulled the box of food into his lap. "What mission can you have here?"

The only answer was a soft, dark chuckle.

 _It's me. He's here to break me down,_ Jack thought without surprise. It didn't matter. He couldn't win through pure muscle against a monster like this, unarmed and stuck in a cell he couldn't possibly escape. So he had to pursue other strategies. Keeping the Reaper talking would feed him information, and information was his only hope of survival.

Pondering his next gambit, Jack opened the box of food, but all strategy flew out of his head for a moment. Kung pao chicken - his favourite. 

He and Gabriel had eaten Chinese a hundred times together. They had eaten it together in their own apartments, and in their underwear in hotel rooms on five different continents. They had ordered it for late night mission planning meetings countless times. And always, Jack had ordered the Kung pao, while Gabriel ribbed him for his predictable tastes.

"Gabriel," he said, his voice low and intense. "Talk to me."

Reaper made a soft, irritated sound. "I already told you. I don't know who that person is."

Jack looked up. "Take off that mask and tell me that."

The Reaper was still and silent for a long moment, then lifted his clawed hand and removed the mask. Gabriel's face was shadowed by the hood this time, but so painfully familiar. Jack ate a bit of his chicken, scarcely tasting it. He couldn't take his eyes off of that face.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Gabriel said in a low hiss. Jack felt his stomach turn to ice at the sound more than the words. He had automatically assumed that the way Reaper's voice sounded was due to something in the mask he wore, but Gabriel's voice was still deeply, monstrously altered. There was a harmonic to the tone that just wasn't human. The voice Jack had heard in his dreams so many times was truly transformed into the voice he now heard in his nightmares.

Was the rest of him, besides his physical appearance, just as corrupted?

"Don't you?" Jack challenged. "Gabriel Reyes, head of Blackwatch. You don't know who that is?" He had to try to tease out what vestiges of his friend might still remain. If there was nothing, then he really was fucked. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Gabriel bared his teeth, his face forming a rictus like the death's head he often wore. "That man is dead. I killed him."

"Did you?" Jack's stomach was twisting. "When?"

Reaper's attention turned inward, the emotion draining from his face as he thought. His eyes were deeply shadowed, and not by the hood. Jack ate quickly, watching every minute shift in Gabriel's expression. Eventually, Reaper looked up and shrugged. "Who can say?" He bared his teeth again in a parody of a grin. "There've been so many."

_He doesn't remember killing him._

"Do you know anything about him?"

"No."

Jack drew up a knee, resting his arm on it, chopsticks poised. "Gabriel Reyes was my best friend. We were brothers in arms, and lovers, as close as any two men could be."

Reaper laughed. Was there strain in his voice? Jack couldn't afford to assume that he was breaking through so quickly - it had to be his imagination. "You must be very sad to know he's dead."

"I am sad," Jack allowed. "But he's not dead. He's you."

"He is _not_ me," Reaper hissed. 

Jack leaned forward and tipped the box of food so that Gabriel could see its contents. "Why did you get this for me?"

Gabriel frowned. "You need food to live, or so I'm told."

Jack had an insane urge to laugh, but it wasn't really funny. How damaged was Gabriel not to remember who he was, not to even be sure of what a human needed to survive?

He shook his head. "No, why did you get me _this_. This particular dish - why this?"

Reaper was silent, brow furrowed in confusion. "I thought you might like it."

"Why?"

Reaper shrugged. "Do you want something different?"

"No." Jack rubbed his forehead. His headache was getting worse. "This is something that Gabriel bought for me a hundred times. You didn't get it because you thought I might like it. You got it because you _knew_ I'd like it. Because you're Gabriel Reyes."

Reaper watched him for a long moment, his eyes cold. Then he shifted forward. He seemed to dissolve, and in seconds he was right in front of Jack, looming over him so close that their faces nearly touched. Jack put the box of food aside just a second before it would have spilled. Reaper grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him down onto his back.

"Maybe I am Gabriel Reyes," he hissed. "Then you should still mourn him, because everything that was him is _dead_. Do you think that you can make me into your friend again? It's impossible."

"I'm not so sure," Jack lied. "I think you're still in there, Gabriel. And I have faith that I can reach you." There was no chance that was true. But even if Jack had no hope of saving Gabriel, if pretending he did threw him off, it was worth the deception.

Reaper grinned. "Then I look forward to destroying your faith, and you with it."


	4. Chapter 4

Jack didn't give the Reaper the satisfaction of a reaction to his threat. He waited, calmly looking up at the face that made his stomach clench with anguish and guilt. "Are you gonna let me finish my dinner?" he asked finally. After a moment of consideration, the hooded man straightened up and moved away.

"I suppose," Gabriel said grudgingly.

Jack sat up and polished off his food mechanically. He knew it was good, but his heart wasn't in it, now. It tasted like sawdust to him, but he knew that his body needed fuel to eat, and water to stave off dehydration, and there was no telling when this capricious, homicidal creature would decide that bringing him food was too much trouble to bother with. Or whether he would even remember tomorrow that food was needed.

There was also no telling what time of day it was. The single bulb in the ceiling cast a harsh glow over the box that served as Reaper's domain, and Jack didn't see an obvious switch. 

Gabriel left him alone for the moment, returning to his corner and perching there, his elbows resting on his knees and eyes shadowed by his hood. Jack wasn't sure if he was glad Gabriel didn't put the mask back on, or not. He seemed in no hurry to do anything, other than watch Jack like a hawk.

Jack tried to ignore him, without much success. He finished his food, drank another bottle of water, and took a piss in the pot Reaper had kindly brought for him. After that, he ran out of stuff to do. He was exhausted and didn't feel like picking up the book he'd been reading, so Jack wrapped himself up in the sleeping bag, rolled over to face the wall, and tried to get some sleep.

Some time later, Jack woke to a whisper like a shroud against stone. The room was now an impenetrable darkness - so it _was_ possible to turn off the light. 

He listened, the blackness pressing upon him like a heavy blanket, but heard no sound. Had Reaper left via his pipe? Was he alone?

"Gabe?" he called out softly. No reply. "Reaper?" Nothing, not even the sound of another's breathing.

He sat up. At some point in the last hours he had decided to do something when he had the chance, and now his opportunity had come. He searched in his pocket for the bottle of pills, and popped it open.

He still had no idea what they were. They could be something that kept Gabriel alive, some kind of pleasure drug, or a poison he liked to use on other people. Hell, they could even be sugar pills. Whatever they were, they could be important, but there was only one way to find out - to wait until Gabriel missed them, and see how he reacted.

And under the circumstances, there was also only one way to keep them away from Gabriel once he _did_ realize they were gone.

Jack poured the pills into the bucket of piss in the corner, then pocketed the empty pill bottle again. What he'd done was a risk. If he wanted to use them as leverage, he'd just flushed that option - almost literally - down the toilet. But the truth was, Reaper had consistently been able to overpower him hand-to-hand so far. With no weapon, no advantage, the likelihood was that if Reaper wanted to take the pills back from Jack, he would succeed. That meant that keeping hold of the pills didn't give him any leverage anyway. He might as well make sure Reaper couldn't get them back.

He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep again.

~ ~ ~

Reaper watched his prey perform his all-too-human bodily functions with curiosity and no small measure of disgust. The man was a small, elderly, petty creature, when it came right down to it.

So why did Reaper find him so fascinating?

And why did his head hurt, whenever the man called him by that name?

She was already gone. Reaper had lost his opportunity to ask Her if She had any insight into the strange feelings he was experiencing, but he wasn't sure it was a good idea to ask Her, anyway. Perhaps he would, when She got back.

Reaper watched as his prey slept, and after a while, he touched the small contact, inset into the stone wall, that turned off the lights. He could see nearly as well in the darkness, anyway. 

It came time for him to take his medicine, but the bottle wasn't on its shelf where he thought he had left it. He slipped out of the room to search.

Eventually, Reaper realized what must have happened.

~ ~ ~

Jack woke again to that same sound, a whisper on stone. He lay with his eyes closed, feigning sleep. It was best not to let his enemy realize just how lightly he slept nor how easily he came to full alertness.

It didn't matter. A gloved hand wrapped itself around his throat from behind. Reaper didn't cut off Jack's air, but the threat was unmistakable. "What did you do with them?" Reaper snarled into his ear. His tone was even more guttural than before. It _was_ Gabriel's voice, but overlaid with a harsh grinding like the stone on stone sound of a crypt's lid sliding open.

With some effort, Jack pretended to be befuddled with sleep. He squirmed, gasping in surprise, and Reaper tightened his grip until he stilled. 

"What...what are you talking about?" Jack stammered.

Reaper growled. "My medicine. Where is it?"

"You take medicine?"

Reaper shoved Jack face down on the pallet and straddled him. Jack struggled again, pushing against his weight, but the creature pushed him down by the back of the neck, all but smothering him. "Where is it?" Reaper snarled loudly. "What did you do with it?"

Jack turned his head to the side with an effort, and took in a gasp of air. "What's it for?"

"It doesn't _matter_ what it's for! Tell me what you did with it." With one hand holding Jack's head still, Reaper began to search him. He ran his free hand down Jack's sides, and then delved into his pockets. The bottle was in one of his utility pockets, further down on his thigh, but Reaper was checking his pockets with efficiency, and it wouldn't take him long to find it. 

Jack had been doing his best to stall, maybe find a way to turn this situation to his advantage, but he was rapidly running out of options. He plunged a hand into the pocket and came up with the bottle. "Here," he said. "Is this what you're looking for?"

He threw it across the room. Reaper growled again and his weight left him abruptly, as he shifted to mist and chased down the bottle that clattered across the floor.

Jack sat up, clearing his throat. He couldn't see a thing, but he could track the bottle's roll somewhat by sound. Reaper's voice came from that same direction. "It's _empty_."

Jack braced himself, which was a good thing. A moment later, Reaper hit him again like a freight train, slamming his shoulder into Jack's chest and straddling him again, forcing him down to the pallet - this time face up. He'd have driven all the air from Jack's body if he hadn't been ready for it, but it still hurt.

Reaper leaned down, only inches away. "Where is my _fucking_ medicine, Morrison?"

"Tell me what it's for, and I'll tell you where I hid it," Jack said.

"I'll kill you if you don't tell me."

"Then you'll never find it, Gabe."

Reaper twitched at the name. That was interesting. There was a stand-off that lasted several seconds, as Reaper tried to figure out a way to get what he wanted without capitulating.

"I need it," he said finally. "Just tell me where it is."

"What do you need it for?" Jack challenged him. "What do those pills do?"

Reaper fell silent. Jack couldn't see his expression in the impenetrable darkness, and suspected that he was wearing his mask regardless. He wished he could see his face - get some _hint_ of what he was thinking. 

He could take a guess, at least.

"You don't know, do you?"

"I don't know _exactly_." Was it Jack's imagination, or did Gabriel sound vaguely uncomfortable?

Jack laughed in Gabriel's face. "You don't know at _all_. You have no idea what they are."

"She said I should take them, so I do. Every day. Two in the morning, and two at night. She's my doctor, so I take them."

 _I'll bet you do._ Jack settled back on his elbows, lounging and continuing to feign unconcern and strength, though he knew he was only moments from probably getting his throat ripped out. "So ask her for more."

"She's not _here_ ," Reaper snapped. "I'm tired of playing this game. I told you what I know, now do as you're told."

"Is that what she says to you?" Jack asked, taking a stab in the - literal - dark.

"Shut up!"

 _That hit a nerve._

Jack considered for a long moment. What did that reaction tell him? Maybe something he could use, but it was a weapon he'd have to wield carefully. O'Deorain clearly had her hooks in Reaper, but how hard did he chafe against the leash? Not too hard, if she could just up and leave right after he stood up to her - and Jack _had_ witnessed him stand up to her when she had Jack strapped to that table.

Maybe Reaper had bent the knee to Moira. Maybe _Gabriel_ had. Either way, this situation had existed for years, and it wasn't likely to change in the next couple of days, no matter what buttons Jack pressed.

Though that didn't mean he wouldn't push buttons when it suited him.

Which wasn't right now. He shrugged, unsure if Reaper could see him, but betting he could. "Well, I'd give them back to you, old friend, but I can't."

There was a soft, low, dangerous rumble as Reaper responded. "Why not?"

"Because I tossed them in my bucket of piss over there in the corner," Jack said frankly. "They're gone."

"You... _what_?"

Then Reaper was on him again. Jack didn't just go quietly this time - certain that he truly was fighting for his life. He kicked and punched, and a few blows connected, but it was like Reaper just shook them off almost without feeling them. Reaper dug his claws into his skin and raked at his chest. Jack hissed at the pain as his shirt was ripped to ribbons, along with the skin underneath it. Then Reaper grabbed him by the waistband and pulled.

Jack realized Reaper wasn't actually trying to kill him in the moments before his pants were ripped to shreds and torn away, leaving him battered and bleeding and nude. By the sound, Reaper methodically tore every stitch of his clothing and the pallet into pieces, searching in vain for the pills tucked into a pocket or into the lining of his fatigues. 

A literal whirlwind battered Jack next, as Reaper moved around the room. There wasn't much to search, but the shreds of paper that settled onto Jack a moment later told him that Reaper was ripping up his books, destroying even his own possessions to be sure that Jack hadn't hidden the pills inside one of them. Jack had actually considered that option as an alternative to dissolving the pills - he was glad he'd dismissed it as too obvious.

"You won't find them, Gabriel," Jack said, pushing himself up to sit again. He was bleeding from a dozen shallow cuts, but the wounds were superficial. "I'm telling you the truth."

With the carnage complete, Reaper dove on him again, pushing him down onto the concrete floor. "You will never escape me," he hissed. "If you think you'll hurt me somehow by doing this, you're wrong."

Jack gazed into the darkness, but in his mind, he was staring Gabriel down with every ounce of venom and hatred that he possessed in his entire body. "Gabriel, I can promise you one thing. You will _have_ to kill me, eventually, because I will never stop trying to counter you, and I will never stop trying to escape. I will destroy you, or die trying."

Reaper hissed again like an angry cat, then he was gone, snarling and raging as he vanished from the room. Jack heard his cursing echo through the pipe as he left him behind once again.

~ ~ ~

Reaper screamed a litany of every curse word he knew as he raced from the room where he kept his prey, and headed for Her lab.

For the next hour, he searched. Every cupboard and cabinet was ransacked. Every box and bottle of pills was examined. Every one of Her underlings fled before the whirlwind of Death. Not a single container held pills that looked like his medicine. He had no idea where to find it. 

He almost went further, but in the end - even under these circumstances - he didn't dare go into Her rooms to see if She had a stash there. Not without Her permission.

He had no idea what would happen to him if he stopped taking the pills, even for a week. Maybe he would die. Maybe he would lose all of his power.

He could call Her on the comms. She hated to be interrupted with Talon things when she was playing the Minister in Oasis, but if he called anyway She would be able to tell him where to find them, give him clearance to go into Her suite if that was where he could find his medicine. Maybe She'd reassure him that it would be fine, he could manage for a week without them.

But She'd call him a fool for leaving his prisoner alone with the pills, and likely would render some kind of punishment. He didn't want that. When She came back, he'd ask for a refill, claim he was out. Better She think he was a fool for mismanaging his medication, than realize he had failed at managing his prisoner.

It'd be fine. Whatever withdrawal did to him, he could handle it for a week.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for torture in this chapter.

After delivering his latest round of abuse and threats over the medicine, Gabriel was gone for several more hours. Jack tried to get some more sleep, but he just lay there with his eyes closed, unable to shut his mind off. Maybe he had already slept for long enough, but he didn't think so - the truth was, he was bruised and bleeding and heartsick. 

And cold. Reaper had left him in a concrete box with only shreds of fabric, which he could do nothing with. Even the sleeping bag was trashed beyond usefulness. Jack did his best to make a sort of nest out of the pieces, at least to keep his bare ass from having to sit on the cold stone floor, but it didn't make that much difference. The whole thing was taking a toll on him, emotionally as well as physically. 

He was too damn old for this.

Eventually, the soft noise of Reaper's movement alerted him to the other man's return and Jack sat up, resisting the urge to cover his nudity. He sat with a knee drawn up to keep his junk from full view, but affected an ease once again that he didn't feel. It seemed to frustrate Reaper to be unable to get a rise out of him, and apparently frustrating Reaper was his full-time hobby and passion these days.

He needn't have bothered. The Reaper said nothing to him, just scooped him up and went insubstantial. They headed out of the room, while Jack struggled to breathe. 

At the end of the brief journey, Jack was dumped back in the cell he had first woken up in, and the two cyborg twins assisted Reaper to chain him to the pipe once more. Even in the dank cell, after so many hours in total darkness, the light stabbed him like knives, but his wrists were chained brutally behind him, and he could do nothing but squint and blink feebly to try to get his eyes to adjust.

"What, have you given up?" Jack snapped, and kicked out once in Reaper's direction. That earned him a kick in the ribs from both of the cyborgs, one to each side. 

To his frustration, Reaper didn't reply, and appeared not to notice that Jack was even speaking. He instructed the cyborg twins in how best to restrain him in a calm and measured growl, and then walked out of the room, utterly ignoring every word Jack shouted at him.

Once Reaper was gone, the beatings began.

The cyborgs weren't there all the time, but they gave him little chance to recover from each session before they would return. They said nothing, neither asked him questions nor made any threats nor promises. They would enter through the door after some unknown period of reprieve, and start in on him again, with fists and boots, and occasionally instruments intended to cause pain.

Then, when they had satisfied whatever sick pleasure they had, or command they'd been given, they would leave him alone again.

For a number of days measured only by guesses, they attended Jack. 

Then, the door opened, and it was Gabriel. Jack didn't have the strength to raise his head, let alone spit the hatred he felt towards his oldest living friend.

Gabriel was wearing a set of black fatigues, his head bare, scarred face naked. He still wore the gloves with the metal claws, and the boots with their heavy tread and steel toes. But if it weren't for those details, and the lack of any Blackwatch badge on his clothing, it might have been him.

He disconnected the chains from the pipe and lifted Jack into his arms. Jack's hands were still cuffed together. A little blood trickled from his wrists where the cuffs had bit into them.

"You stink," Reaper said. His voice was still that of a monster, gravelly and inhuman.

"Fuck you." After so much time spent screaming, Jack could scarcely muster more than a whisper.

Reaper shifted insubstantial again, and Jack was carried out of the cellblock. He made no effort to breathe, and hoped this time he'd suffocate before he found out whatever Reaper had planned for him next.

It turned out that he had drawn a bath. 

He dumped Jack into the steaming water, and he nearly drowned. Somewhere along the way to the bottom of the tub, his survival instincts kicked in after all, and he fought his way back up to the surface, gasping and sputtering. He heard that laughter, grating along his nerves, and opened his eyes to see Gabriel sitting in a chair nearby, legs manspread wide and one shotgun in his hand. They were in a generic, white-tiled bathroom, cheerfully lit. 

Gabriel had a gun cleaning kit open on the counter beside him, and he began to disassemble his gun. "Scrub off," he ordered.

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" Jack snapped. His arms were still chained behind his back.

Reaper shrugged. "Figure it the fuck out."

With a considerable amount of difficulty, and probably some permanent damage to his rotator cuffs, Jack managed to squeeze and contort himself until he had his arms in front instead. He just wasn't as limber as he once was. He shot a glare at Gabriel and saw he was watching with undisguised amusement. 

Jack turned away, grabbed the soap, and began to scrub the blood and sweat and other substances from his body.

"To what do I owe the honour of this privilege?" Jack sneered.

"I don't want to smell you," Reaper said.

"So I'm not going back to the cell," Jack guessed. 

"Assuming you behave this time."

Jack had little to say to that at first. He was exhausted, mentally and physically. He had scarcely been given so much as a sip of water since the day before leaving Reaper's room. And this was a nice tub, with circulating water that kept it fresh and clean and hot, so he wasn't sitting in his own filth. Jack had a feeling if he stopped moving for more than a few seconds, he would fall asleep and drown.

The cleanliness and calm of this environment was almost overwhelming, and he caught himself wishing he had never tried to defy Reaper so much. If he'd just been able to return the pills to him, he'd have continued their cat-and-mouse game in Reaper's oubliette of a room, instead of experiencing the hell he'd been through for the last several days.

"She's back, isn't she?" Jack murmured as he cupped water in his palms to wash the last of the soap away. "O'Deorain's back from her trip."

"Not for another three days," Gabriel said. "Why, do you miss her?"

Jack frowned at this news. He had assumed that the reason Gabriel was cleaning him up was to deliver him to his mistress. "No, I just." He turned to look at the other man, who was just finishing up reassembling his second shot gun. "I thought that was next."

Gabriel smiled, a purr in his voice as he replied. "Oh babe, you aren't gonna be free of me so quickly."

 _Babe?_ A shudder wracked Jack's body despite the warmth of the bath. Gabriel hadn't called him that in over seven years. 

Gabriel got up, sliding the guns into his belt at the small of his back, and hit a button on the wall. The bath started to drain, the water running out so quickly it left Jack shivering in the dry air in moments. 

"Can you stand?" Gabriel asked, and held out a gloved hand.

"Of course I can--" Jack pushed himself up and nearly fell right over as a wave of dizziness smothered him. He found himself wrapped up in Reaper's arms again, leather pressed against Jack's back and claws coming to rest gently on his bare hip as Reaper steadied him. 

"Don't be an idiot. You haven't eaten in three days," Gabriel growled. "It won't be satisfying if you crack your head open and die from a fall, old man."

 _Oh god, please shut up. Shut up,_ Jack thought somewhat frantically. With Reaper's steadying presence supporting his body, Jack moved mechanically, even as his mind careened from horror to horror, grabbing a towel and drying himself off. 

Why was Gabriel dressed differently? Why did he sound so like himself all of a sudden? The difference was subtle, and the strange 'Reaper' harmonics were still there, but to someone who had known him so long, each slight change in intonation and wording was like a flashing neon sign in Jack's mind.

And in his current state, it made him feel like having a full on mental breakdown.

All he could do was try his best to ignore it. He dried himself off and tried to wrap the towel around his waist, but Gabriel pulled it off and snapped him on the ass with it before dumping it into the recycler. 

"You don't need that. Come on," Reaper said, catching Jack by the arm and steering him out of the bathroom. 

If Jack had had the brain power left over right now to really think about what Reaper might do next, he would never have guessed this. He might have expected to be whisked back to the concrete box with no way to escape, or returned to the ungentle ministrations of the cyborg twins. Instead, they walked together out of the bathroom into a luxurious, well-lit suite of rooms. There was carpet on the floor, a king-sized bed visible through a doorway, and a full den with sofa and even a holographic fireplace that spewed out real heat.

On the coffee table was a large spread of Chinese food and more water. Jack had to physically restrain himself from falling on the food like a madman. He would probably never be able to eat Chinese food again after this nightmare, but right now the smells were maddening.

"Go," Reaper said, giving him a gentle shove towards the food. "Don't eat too fast. Start with the water."

"Don't tell me what to do," Jack said. Nevertheless, he walked stiff-legged towards the bounty and dropped to his knees next to the table. He grabbed a bottle of water, cracking it open and taking the tiniest sip he could stand.

There were windows in this room. Actual windows. It was day outside. He could see the sun.

He didn't trust it, not any of it. It was all lies, all intended to break him down. He couldn't allow that to happen.

Reaper sat down on the plush white sofa, looking both completely out of place, and utterly at home. "Feeling better?"

"Go fuck yourself," Jack said between sips of the water.

Reaper laughed softly, then sobered, leaning back against the sofa and watching him with something that looked horrifyingly like affection. "I decided to assign myself a new home. What do you think?"

Jack drew a breath and reached for a box of food. "I think the other place suited you more."

"Hmm." Reaper glanced around thoughtfully. "You're right, but I like this place for now. Of course, if you'd rather, we could go back to the other one."

"No thanks."

Gabriel laughed. "You think this'll be an easier room to escape from, don't you?" He was right, and they both knew it. Jack shrugged and made no attempt to deny it. The smirk on Gabriel's face widened and he rose. "Let me show you the truth."

He walked to the door, and Jack watched hungrily, stuffing his face with Chinese food automatically. There was a touch screen by the door, and it was the kind that would slide open. Was it a hand print scanner? A retinal scan? There were ways to beat both. Most of them involved cutting off some part of Reaper's body. He could live with that.

"Look at this," Reaper said smugly. "A security scanner. Top of the line. Sombra would have a hard time hacking this one." Reaper touched the screen and the computer scanned his palm. It beeped, and there was a grinding sound, and nothing happened. Reaper turned to face him, grinning with triumph.

"What?" Jack asked. He was still addled by pain and deprivation. 

Reaper knocked twice on the metal door. "I welded it shut." He spread his hands dramatically. "The windows are tempered, bullet-proof glass and don't open. Even if you managed to break one, which would be almost impossible, it's a twenty-story sheer drop to the pavement that you couldn't possibly survive. The air circulation is through grates that even a mouse would find impossible to navigate. This room is impenetrable, except by me."

Jack froze, staring at him in shock. Once again, he was trapped in a room with no way out unless you were made of smoke. "No one else can get in here, either," he said stupidly. What did Reaper care about that? 

The smile only widened. "Does that make you feel safe?"

Jack stared at his best friend's face, at the madness in his eyes. "Not really."

Reaper laughed and returned to his seat on the sofa. "Smart man. Nothing's changed." He leaned forward. "Let's reiterate the situation, so you truly understand. You belong to me. I decide if you get food or water or anything else you need. Maybe you'll earn clothes, or maybe not. Maybe you'll even earn the right to get those cuffs off. But if you fuck me over again, I won't be so generous a second time. I'll _gladly_ hand you over."

Jack sighed and picked up a second bottle of water. "Yeah, I got it."

"See? I knew you'd get it if I let the twins have you for a while."

Jack fell silent, concentrating on fueling his body back up. He would need to sleep, too. He wondered when that would be allowed to happen, and whether he'd get to sleep on the bed or if Reaper had other plans.

"Did you find more medicine?" he asked, after a while. 

"No, but it's fine," Gabriel said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I feel no effects from not taking it. Nothing's changed."

 _But something HAS changed,_ Jack thought, frowning faintly. He didn't trust his own mind right now, but he _felt_ it. Reaper was different. Could it have something to do with the medication? 

Or did Gabriel just want him to believe that - was this whole thing a dog and pony show, to convince Jack that he was nothing more than a victim of Moira's machinations? Did Reaper remember being Gabriel or not? Was he using this act, pretending to be more like his old friend, to screw with Jack's head?

He had no idea.

~ ~ ~

Reaper sat on the soft, pale furniture in a sunlit room, watching his prey kneel before him. Morrison was utterly bare to his gaze, physically and in every other way. The twins were good at their jobs, brutalizing their victims with efficiency and skill, and Reaper had to hand it to them. The days of pain and deprivation had softened the man up a bit, and he was far more agreeable than he had been before. It had been a good move to give him over to them for a while.

But as the days wore on, Reaper had thought more and more of looking in on his charge. Taking him back. Initially, he had thought he was done with him, but Reaper had grown restless over time. More than once, he had found himself just outside Jack's door, listening to his screams, and resisting the urge to step inside. What he would do after that, he still didn't know - a part of him would have enjoyed adding to his pain, but a part wanted something different.

In his restless energy and uncertainty, he had found himself rethinking his plans and lifestyle. Why should he live in a dark, windowless box with only a few items to his name? Why not have a proper suite, like all the other high-ranking members of Talon? He was _due_ the same privileges as them, and he was less sure now why he had originally turned them down.

He had no use for the bed, or the bathroom, or even the soft carpets and fabrics, but they were still _nice_. The sunlight was too bright at times, but he could tint the windows if he chose to, or close the curtains.

And now, seeing his prey under the sunlight, he decided he liked the look of him like that. His skin was shadowed with bruises, and he could _see_ them more clearly. He could see every shift of his expression, every plane and angle of his body. Nothing was shaded from his eyes.

Yes, he would keep him here for a while, and see how that went. The next phase of their relationship was just beginning.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Check the notes for content warnings. Scroll past if you want to avoid spoilers related to the smut going forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for some pushing of consent boundaries in this chapter. [[**SPOILER**: This is as bad as it gets for the rest of the fic if you have concerns related to non/dub con and consent]]
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> [[End of spoilers]]

Jack felt Gabriel's eyes on him throughout his meal. He ate until he felt he would burst, and drunk water until he was practically sloshing. With how capricious Gabriel had been so far, this could once again be his last chance for a while. Especially since he had no intention of going back on his earlier word - he would try to escape until he had exhausted every possible avenue, and then he would fight back until he was dead.

Finally, he put down his last empty food container and considered his next move. Gabriel was still watching him in silence, maybe waiting for him to do something other than stuff his face. Well, Jack felt like collapsing onto the plush carpet in front of the fire and falling asleep, but that wasn't terribly productive, and it would also be a bit embarrassing.

So he got to his feet and tottered around the room, examining his new prison with just as much attention as he had the last.

Gabriel watched him, turning his head to follow as Jack moved, like a predator watching his prey.

"Do you like this room?" Gabriel asked, after Jack had done a turn around the room once.

"Well, it's better than some shitholes I've been in," Jack said with perfect honesty. His feet hurt as he walked, but he tried to ignore it. The soles of both feet were burned, and he wished for one of his biotic field generators. However, despite the discomfort, it felt good to move.

Reaper rose and stalked him. That was the only way to describe the walk as he glided towards him with a measured step, a smirk of anticipation on his lips. 

When Reaper started moving, Jack paused where he was - standing by the window, where the view had told him that he was still in Numbani, high up in one of the larger skyscrapers. He had had no idea this building was connected to Talon. But that was a lesser consideration right at the moment. He felt his body tensing for a fight with each step Reaper took, but when the other man reached him, he merely took a place beside him and looked out the window.

The sun was beginning to set, and the sky painted the room in golds and reds. Gabriel's face was tinted with colour as he looked out at their surroundings.

"One day we'll be out there together," he said. 

Jack blinked. "What happened to 'I'll never get out of here alive'?" he asked.

"Oh, you won't." Reaper shot him a pleased smirk. "She's promised She'll be giving you the same treatment She gave me. You and I will be an unstoppable force, together, bringing death to everyone in our paths."

Jack felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. So that was why he was being kept alive. They meant to break him, and turn him into something like the monster he saw in front of him. "Why... why didn't you tell me this before?" he stammered, breathless with horror.

"You weren't ready," Reaper said. He lifted a hand and touched one of the scars bisecting Jack's face, drawing his claw lightly down it. Jack struggled not to flinch and failed miserably. "But I think it's good for you to know where this is going."

"Is that what you want, Gabe?" Jack asked, clawing desperately for something to say that would hit Reaper where it hurt, some way to take back some measure of control when he was reeling. "For us to be together again?"

A light flashed in Gabriel's eyes - a sudden interest brightening his expression. But instead of answering immediately, he let his hand fall and caught Jack around the wrist, just above his manacles, instead. "The sun's going down," he said. "And you're exhausted. We should continue this conversation in the bedroom."

Baffled, Jack let himself be steered out of the den and into the adjoining room with its huge bed. Earlier, he had all but fantasized about getting to sleep in a luxurious bed like this, but now his instincts were pinging him. What the hell did Reaper have planned for him next?

"Why?" he asked, investing the word with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "You planning on joining me? Do you even sleep?"

"I have no need for sleep," Reaper said. "But you do." He gave Jack a gentle shove towards the bed.

Despite his misgivings, Jack saw no point in resisting. He peeled the blankets back and climbed into the bed. The sheets were satiny and cool against his skin, the mattress soft under his weight. It was nanofoam, an expensive AI-controlled substance, and conformed to his body perfectly, supportive in some places and yielding in others. He groaned despite himself as every bit of tension immediately drained away.

Reaper rumbled a laugh. "Lights off," he said, and the room darkened. The waning sunlight from the other room bathed them in a reddened glow, outlining Gabriel's silhouette in blood.

Jack shut his eyes. He listened as Reaper took off his boots, each one falling with a heavy thud, and then he felt the other man climb onto the bed. 

Reaper stretched out behind him, on top of the blanket, and a hand came to rest on his hip. Jack could still feel Reaper's claws through the blanket as they curled around. Despite the comfortable bed, he was tense again.

"Tell me about this man you say I am," Reaper said softly.

Jack frowned. What was this, now? "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Jack hesitated. "He was my best friend," he said, picking through the words as if he was moving through a minefield. "Gabriel Reyes and I went through the enhancement program together, and you were my commanding officer in the early incarnation of Overwatch."

"Your best friend," Reaper said, rolling the words around on his tongue. "A comrade in arms."

"He was more than a friend," Jack murmured. " _You_ were more than a friend. You were my lover, my partner, I trusted you completely."

"I'm not him," Reaper reminded him, but he still sounded thoughtful. 

Jack fell silent. This wasn't right. Gabriel was asking about the man he was, and all Jack could talk about was how much Gabriel had meant to him. If there was any chance to remind him of who he was, he wouldn't do it by talking about himself. Gabriel had stopped caring about him years ago, it had seemed, even before he'd become Reaper. He had changed after Venice, though not like _this_.

He had to do better. 

He drew a breath. "You were a good man, once," he said. "Brave and willing to do what needed to be done to save the world. You always had my back, no matter what. And, and you had a sense of humour. You could always be counted on for a sarcastic quip and to cut me down a peg if I needed it." 

He rested his hand on top of Reaper's glove. His voice was giving out, his throat closing with every word, but he had to get the rest of this out, no matter how painful it was. "You were a fucking asshole," he whispered. "You were determined, and smart, and usually clear-headed. You would climb over broken glass to get what you wanted, but there was no one I could count on more. Sometimes you did dumbass shit, but only when you felt like your people had been harmed. You were the most loyal person I've ever known."

Reaper withdrew his hand from underneath Jack's hand, but then he stroked his fingertips lightly down the back of Jack's neck. The light touch of those cold metal claws made him shiver. "You truly believe that I'm this man."

"You are, Gabriel. There's no doubt about it."

"This man that you love."

Jack twitched at the word, and heard Reaper make a soft, amused noise. The petting went on, Reaper's fingers drawing down the side of Jack's neck and then pushing the blanket down to bare his shoulder as his fingers followed the line of his shoulder blade. Then he delved under the blanket, sliding down his ribs.

"Gabriel," Jack said, his voice hoarse as Reaper's claws touched the bottom of his ribcage and then slid across to his spine and continued their downwards exploration. " _Gabe_ , stop."

A claw pricked his skin right at the tip of his tailbone. Reaper hummed softly. "Hmm?"

Jack jerked away, breaking the electric contact. " _Stop_." He drew a breath. He felt like he couldn't breathe. There were rubber bands pulled tight around his chest. "Don't do that. Please."

Reaper replaced his hand on Jack's bare shoulder. "Do what?"

Jack turned to look over his shoulder and saw Gabriel with a shit-eating grin so familiar that it made his stomach clench. He swallowed bile. "Don't give me that shit," he said. "If you're horny, you've got a right hand to use. I won't be offering my help so long as I've got cuffs on and that door is barred."

To Jack's surprise, Reaper looked taken aback. "I don't get horny."

"Right." Jack rolled his eyes and turned his back on Reaper again. He felt cold, despite the blankets, and he regretted eating so much. "Go away and let me sleep. I've answered your questions."

And again, to Jack's utter shock, Reaper got up and slipped away. His bare feet padded on the soft carpet as he walked out of the room and shut the door.

Jack had a lot to think about, but even as keyed up as he thought he was, he couldn't overcome the exhaustion of the last few days. Within minutes, once the door was closed, he had fallen asleep.

~ ~ ~

The Reaper's prey was _fascinating_. He couldn't get enough of watching him, listening to him speak, knowing that this man was his to enjoy. With every minute that passed, Reaper grew more pleased that he had rescued him from the twins.

It was odd to hear Morrison talking about his old friend. Reaper could almost imagine himself fighting side by side with him. Reaper with his shot guns, devastating their victims with buckshot, while Jack cut them down with rapid fire shots of his pulse rifle. And if Jack were as powerful as Reaper, a twin and match to him, then how beautiful they both would be.

The fantasy drew his hands to touch the older man, to explore his skin - scars and smooth skin alike. Many of those scars had been delivered by Talon, the freshest ones added by Reaper himself either directly or indirectly, and each one was a gift to his eyes - a perfect addition to the topography before him.

But his attentions weren't welcome. The man began to squirm and gasp, and even beg him to stop what he was doing. It was only when Jack accused him of wanting sex that Reaper was caught off guard. He withdrew, frowning and confused, before he had even stopped to consider whether he should. 

So he found himself outside the room, feeling out of sorts and strange. His body was humming with energy, and he wanted to go back into the room and press close and take what he wanted - but the thought of doing so also left him feeling discontented. Jack wouldn't react pleasingly, he suspected.

Reaper sat down on the sofa. His pants were uncomfortable, and he reached down to release his belt and fly, freeing his prick, which stood up stiffly. How...unusual, and irritating. That didn't happen often, but it wasn't like he didn't know what to do.

He curled his fingers around his member and leaned back on the sofa. He closed his eyes. The leather of his glove was soft and smooth from use, but the edge of the metal claws added an almost painful scrape to the sensitive skin. He liked it. With a sigh, he settled flat onto his back, sinking deep into the too-soft cushions, and jerked himself off.

As he pulled mechanically on his cock, his mind turned back towards his prey. The line of his back. The way he had sighed, as if he was ashamed to allow the sound to escape. He _did_ desire Reaper, though he didn't want to. He thought that Reaper was his former lover, and Reaper wondered what he might look like, what he might do, if Jack allowed himself to see Reaper as his lover again.

Reaper's breathing caught at the thought, a half-fantasy, half-memory that floated through his mind. He saw a younger man, a blond-haired Jack with his head thrown back and his lip caught between his teeth. Crying out in pleasure as they coupled.

Ecstasy hit Reaper at the same moment, shockingly powerful, and he gave a cry of his own. 

He opened his eyes, panting, and looked at the sticky mess he had made of his shirt and pants. On the rare occasions when Reaper had felt the need to take care of such mundane needs, he had never orgasmed so strongly. He couldn't remember ever feeling a pleasure so acute.

"What the hell was that?" he whispered to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for torture in this chapter.

Reaper waited impatiently all night for his charge to wake. Initially, he left Jack alone as requested, but eventually Reaper had become bored. He had occupied himself for a few hours, but ultimately had run out of things to do. Before dawn, he had stolen back into the room without opening the door or disturbing Jack, and had settled onto the bed to watch him. 

Before his recent stint in the care of the cyborg twins, Jack had been such a light sleeper that he would wake even if Reaper used his wraith form to move around - Jack had thought he'd fooled him, but Reaper knew him too well and had known he was awake - but now the bed was so comfortable and Jack's exhaustion so total, that he didn't stir.

When morning came, the sun warming Jack's scarred face and dispelling some of the ravages that time and deprivation and misery had wrought upon him, Reaper watched avidly until Jack finally opened his eyes.

Jack looked adorably befuddled for a long moment. Long enough that Reaper leaned closer, wanting to kiss that expression. He sensed that he somehow already knew what that would feel like, even though there was no reason why he should, so he pressed in, eager to see if he was right. Jack focused on him before he could complete the action, and drew away sharply from Reaper's approach.

"What the hell are you doing - watching me sleep?" Jack snarled. He pulled down the blankets, sitting up, and his chains rattled as he moved.

"Yes," Reaper said honestly, sitting back. "You spend so much time sleeping, I got bored waiting."

Jack shot him a look, eyes narrowed. "You don't eat, you don't sleep. Do you even need to breathe?"

"No."

"Well you definitely masturbate," Jack said wryly, his scarred lips twisting with amusement.

Reaper said nothing, unsure how to feel about that statement or how to react. Jack had heard his shout the night before? A part of him wanted to respond angrily, but he had plans for how to spend the day, and he didn't want to ruin that. So instead, he changed the subject.

"I brought you a present," he said, and reached out to grasp Jack by the wrist, just above the cuff. "Get up."

Jack jerked his hand away. "Why don't you take off those gloves if you're gonna touch me," he challenged. "Every time you get grabby, you cut me. I'm only human, you know."

Reaper blinked and looked down at his gloves, spreading his fingers so that the claws flashed in the golden early morning sunlight. "I need them for now," he said. "But I'll consider taking them off later."

Rebuffed but determined to follow through, Reaper slid off the bed and straightened, moving towards the door. "Put on your clothes and follow me."

"What cl--" Jack stopped, spotting the pile of clothing that Reaper had so thoughtfully provided during the night. Jack reached for the outfit and shook it out.

Reaper grinned at the sight. Black clothing, nearly a twin to Reaper's own garments. It might be a little snug on Jack through the shoulders, he suspected, but it was all he could manage on short notice. Instead of a cloak, he'd procured a long coat. Jack should cut a handsome figure in it, he was sure.

"You're kidding me," Jack said flatly.

"Wear that or wear nothing," Reaper replied.

Jack shot a glare at him sidelong, and held out his arm towards Reaper, the other arm following along at the limit of the short chain. He shook his wrist, making the chains jangle again. "And how am I supposed to put anything on while I'm wearing these?"

Reaper cocked his head, considering, and then approached him. "I'll help." He pulled off a glove, revealing a hand with wickedly-curved claws nearly as vicious as the metal ones on his gloves, and reached for Jack's wrist once more.

Jack stared at his hand, then grumbled and obediently laid his hand in Reaper's palm. Reaper touched the hidden spot on the cuff with his thumb, and the cuff sprang open. He watched as Jack dressed, relishing the creak of the leather and the way it clung tight to Jack's body. The coat was the best touch, he thought, just the right length on him, but black instead of blue.

Had Jack worn blue? Why did he think so?

"Beautiful," he purred once Jack was dressed.

"I hate you," Jack told him coldly.

Reaper ignored that, though this time the words hit as if Jack had struck him. Well, Jack would change his mind soon enough. 

He took Jack's hand again and locked the cuff back onto his wrist. Jack suffered this without complaint, glaring at him all the time. 

"Come," Reaper said once that was all done. "Your present."

"This wasn't my 'present'?" Jack asked, gesturing to his outfit. Knee-high boots, grey camo pants and a black shirt, and the long black coat over it all. He was stunning, his pale face and white hair a contrast to the dark clothing. He looked ready for a battle, and a match to Reaper himself. 

"No, you earned that," Reaper said, flashing a grin. "By behaving yourself yesterday. Follow me."

Jack frowned and followed as Reaper swept towards the double door and opened it wide. At that point, a soft knocking became audible. Someone out in the hallway was tapping on the door to their suite in a polite, but insistent rhythm. Reaper assumed it was one of the cyborg twins.

It was a safe assumption, as the other of the twin cyborgs knelt on the floor in the middle of the room. His arms and legs were chained, forcing him into that position, and a gag had been stuffed into his mouth to keep him quiet. Though Reaper wasn't certain the man could talk - he had never heard him do so - he suspected that he could still scream. At least, he hoped that was the case.

"What is this?" Jack asked, his voice quiet. Reaper turned, gesturing towards his gift with a flourish, and saw that Jack had stopped dead in the doorway. The blood had drained from his face.

"I thought we could enjoy him together," Reaper said with a grin. 

Jack's blue eyes shifted from the cyborg to Reaper, widening. "What the fuck do you mean 'enjoy'?"

He didn't get it, but he would. Reaper rolled his eyes and approached the bound man. "There's no need to be afraid. He can't hurt you, now." His claws flashed out, digging into the cyborg's chest. His prey grunted, the sound muffled by the gag, as blood began to flow from five neat slashes in his skin.

So he could make noise. Good.

Reaper turned to Jack. "Your turn. How do you want to do it?"

"Jesus, Gabriel," Jack breathed. He hadn't moved from his spot. "You can't be serious. You want me to help you torture him? You think this is _fun_?"

This was starting to get annoying. Reaper slashed his prey again, scoring a few lines perpendicular to the first one so it formed a series of X-shapes. The cyborg groaned more loudly. 

"Come on, don't act so sanctimonious, Jack. He tortured you for three days. This is your chance to get some back." He grabbed the cyborg by the chin, forcing his head up to expose his throat. It was mostly metal, the steel pipes that fed air into the rest of his body protruding from vulnerable flesh. "There's no need to pretend you don't want to do it. It's just you and me, here."

"You're sick." Jack's hands were clenched and trembling, his expression wooden. "I thought maybe there was some hope that I could reach you. But if you think I'd take any pleasure in what you're offering, you're _not_ the man I knew."

And he turned and marched back into the bedroom.

Rage ballooned inside of Reaper, his vision covered by a red mist. He let go of the cyborg and slashed him again, making him cry out. He ripped the gag from the cyborg's mouth, so he could better hear his cries.

"You believe I care what you think, Jack?" Reaper shouted. The banging of the twin at the sealed door was growing urgent, a counterpoint to his victim's cries. "You'll be like me, soon! We'll bathe in blood together, you'll see, and you'll regret that you walked away from this!"

He slashed at the cyborg's vulnerable flesh, carving it away from bone and metal substructure. He dyed his claws red with blood. A crimson rain spattered the pristine white carpet, and the furniture, and his own skin. 

Tired of slashing with his claws, he began to dig at the metal enhancements, crushing them and ripping them away with his bare hands. Finally, he grabbed onto a vulnerable piece of machinery that protruded from his victim's head, and ripped it away. Both cyborgs, the one in the room and the one outside, shrieked in twin harmonies. His victim collapsed and convulsed, screaming and thrashing, and ultimately was still.

Power and pleasure both flowed into Reaper. He reached for the ceiling in a paroxysm of ecstasy, laughter erupting from his chest. He truly felt alive, as the two cyborgs breathed their last.

Not even Jack could take that from him.

~ ~ ~

Jack stalked from the den back into the bedroom, retreating into the only meager sanctuary he had. He didn't bother to close the door - it wouldn't stop Reaper from entering, so what was the point?

Reaper raged in his wake, shouting threats, and then started in on the cyborg again. 

The sounds of pain and death were sickening, and Jack did his best to tune it out, but there was nothing to distract him from the sounds of Reaper murdering the man with his bare hands.

Yes, a man who had tortured Jack. A man who might well have been a monster before he was turned into...whatever he was now. Jack would have gladly delivered him to his death, but it would have been a clean death - a bullet to the head. Not this.

Finally, the screams quieted, but the sound of Reaper's glee was no less stomach-churning to listen to. What the hell had happened to his friend over the years? 

He had woken this morning to the thought that Gabriel might possibly be somewhere inside that monster, but his hopes were quickly dashed in that regard. 

Jack sat down on the edge of the bed, his skin crawling, and waited.

The laughter quieted, and then Jack listened to Reaper's heavy boot tread on the carpet as he approached and stepped into the bedroom. His face was misted with blood droplets. The arms of his cloak was heavy with the liquid, and large drops dripped from the tips of his claws onto the floor. 

He was smiling, and there was an energy to his movements that Jack hadn't seen in Gabriel in over a decade. He seemed vital and alive in a way he hadn't only half an hour before. 

Jack held himself tensely, unsure of what to expect. 

"Finished cowering in here, Jack?" Reaper asked jovially. He stripped off his gloves, first one, then the other, discarding them onto the floor. "I'll bet you're hungry again."

"Not really," Jack said. "Unless you want to go out to eat."

Gabriel laughed. "Not happening. Not yet." He made a beckoning gesture and Jack reluctantly got to his feet - only to be caught around the waist and dragged in close. Gabriel kissed him hungrily. 

He tasted faintly of blood, but he was _Gabe_ , and he kissed like him, and despite everything Jack went weak in the knees. Somewhere in the first few, confused seconds of their kiss, Jack learned that Gabriel now had sharp teeth. Somehow, he hadn't noticed before.

Jack recalled himself quickly and broke the kiss. He turned his head away, grimacing, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the fuck are you doing, Gabe?"

He half expected Gabriel to rage again, to get angry at Jack's recalcitrance, but he only stuck his nose under Jack's jaw and nibbled at the side of his neck. Jack closed his eyes, struggling between the urge to push him away, and the knowledge that - as torture went - this wasn't so bad.

How many times had he felt those lips in just that spot? On an early morning when Jack was still half asleep, or in the middle of the day when Jack thought they should be working? Gabriel had always been playful and voracious in the sack, and as much as Jack grumbled and griped, he had adored him for it. Gabriel had always known just how to draw Jack out, remind him how to enjoy life, and that was something Jack knew - even then - that he sorely needed.

And now Gabriel wanted to teach him how to enjoy death.

"I struck out, hmm?" Gabriel murmured.

"What was your first clue?"

"Well." Gabriel hugged him close, chin resting on Jack's shoulder, with Jack's back pressed to his chest. "What do you want to do? Within reason."

There were half a million things Jack wanted to say, but he knew there was no point in trying to demand anything Reaper definitely wouldn't give. His freedom, for example. But at least he was asking instead of beating the shit out of him for not playing his game. Jack wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"How about we start with you taking a fucking shower?" he said.

He felt Gabriel grin against the back of his neck. "Will you join me?"

"Hell no."

"Fine." Gabriel tightened his grip around Jack's middle, humming thoughtfully. "I'll take a bath. You can sit with me, instead. Outside the tub."

Jack considered that for a long moment. "...Fine."

Gabriel released him and sauntered into the bathroom, shedding his clothing as he went. His body was remarkably similar to the Gabriel that Jack remembered - a few more scars, but Jack knew where he'd gotten most of those. He could easily believe that Gabriel was now immune to most human complaints - aging, scarring, hunger, death. 

How had Moira pulled this off? He suspected he'd be better off never finding out.

Reluctantly, he followed Gabriel into the bathroom. Gabe was bent over the tub, his ass and well-muscled legs in full display as he tested the water. From this position, there wasn't much in the way of blood, and Jack could almost believe it was his friend. Except for the claws on his feet, matching the talons on his fingers.

"Gabe," Jack said, taking a seat on the stool where his captor had sat and cleaned his guns the evening before. "What is it you really want from me?"

Gabriel stepped into the steaming tub and settled down, resting his powerful, dark arms on the white porcelain rim as he looked up at Jack. Blood was drying on his face, and his eyes were still edged with madness. But his smirk was painfully familiar, rather than cruel. 

"I've told you what I want, Jack," he said. "Us. Together."

Jack gestured towards the door. "And what, murdering people together is how you figure we'll get there?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes and settled deeper into the water, closing his eyes. "It was a misfire. I get it. You're not ready, yet."

"I'm never going to want that, Gabe. I'm a soldier, not a serial killer. I do what I must to protect people. Once, you were that way, too."

Gabriel cracked an eye open and smirked up at Jack. "Maybe once, if you're right. But that was before Her. When She's done with you, you'll be just like me."

Jack leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Gabriel, understand this. What you're proposing is to destroy everything about me, to make me into something else. So what you're saying is - you don't want me. You want something else, that's not even me. So why _me_? Why not pick any poor asshole off the street to turn into your companion, if _that's_ what you want."

The smile faded away as Jack talked, replaced by a deep frown. "I don't want any old asshole, Jack."

"No, you don't." The realization had dawned on Jack slowly, but he was certain of it. He picked up a wash cloth and wet it, sliding off the stool to one knee next to the tub. He picked up Gabriel's hand and began to clean the blood off of it. Some of it had seeped through the leather, drying in patches on his skin. "You don't want any old asshole. You want me, because some part of you is still you."

Gabriel's eyes opened wide and turned towards Jack. "And I love you," he said, like it was a revelation.

The words hit Jack like a bullet to the heart. "Yeah," he said, gruffly from the way his throat wanted to close up tight. "Maybe so."

"But you don't love me."

How the hell to answer that question? It was a minefield in five words. Jack focused on the hand he was massaging with the cloth, buffing away the dried blood.

"I can't love who you are, now," he said softly.

Gabriel didn't respond. He frowned, a lost, unhappy expression that looked foreign on his face. Jack washed his other hand, and cleaned the blood from his face, and Gabriel just watched him without a single teasing comment.

When he was dry, Gabriel dressed in his blood-spattered garments - so much for the bath - and turned to mist. He flowed out the vent and left Jack alone to fend for himself, without saying another word.

Jack was all right with that. He had a lot to think about, too.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack wandered the little suite of rooms alone after Reaper left. There was no avoiding the body lying on the floor in the middle of the den, so after an hour or two of trying to pretend it wasn't there, he wrapped it up in towels and dragged it over to the door. Then he got down on hands and knees and scrubbed the blood from the carpet and sofa. He got some of it out, but the stains were permanent, he figured, especially since he'd had only had mild hand soap to clean with.

He eventually discovered that the television worked and he could operate basic functions like the lights and blinds, but the computer systems otherwise ignored his voice. He was able to change the channel and turn the volume up and down, but he couldn't use the telephone functions or access the internet. 

Well, it wasn't like he had anyone to call. 

He wasn't about to get any other former Overwatch agents involved in his affairs. No one knew he was alive, and he wanted to keep it that way - even if it killed him. Letting Winston, Tracer, and the others know he had been alive all this time was a complication no one needed. That kind of revelation would only get a lot of other people he cared about killed when they tried to rescue him.

He watched stupid movies and napped on the couch for hours. At some point, he woke to the smell of pancakes and discovered breakfast sitting out on the coffee table, steaming. It was well past noon, and he had recovered enough to be ravenous. He ate the pancakes and looked around for Reaper, but he seemed to have delivered the food and left. 

The body was also gone. Small mercies.

Then, just after sunset, Reaper returned again. Jack was awake this time, looking out the window and pondering whether he could somehow write some sort of plea for help on the glass in soap, and whether it'd be seen. The thought of what might happen if it were taken seriously was one factor mitigating against the attempt - any intrusion on the building, he was sure, would either end badly for whoever showed up, or they'd be turned away with some believable story. There was no chance that some stranger walking the streets below was going to somehow rescue him.

When the cloud of mist came through the ventilation grating, Jack turned away from the view and leaned against the window. At least the clothes Reaper had given him were comfortable. And black was a decent colour on him. It was intimidating.

Through probably not that intimidating to Gabriel, all things considered.

"Did you have a good day at work, dear?" Jack asked sardonically when Reaper had re-formed in the middle of the room.

Gabriel cocked his head in thought, then shrugged. "I wasn't working. I was mostly thinking."

 _Me too,_ Jack thought. "Did you come to any conclusions?"

Gabriel lowered his head and shook it, frowning. 

_Me neither,_ Jack thought with an inward sigh.

Then Gabriel looked up. "Are you tired? You slept a lot today."

"I napped," Jack grumped, scowling. "Not like I had anything else to occupy my mind. I'm not much of a television watcher."

"Ah... I could bring you more books," Gabriel suggested. 

This Trying-To-Be-Nice Reaper was somehow even worse in some ways that the original Reaper was. Jack did his best to cover his confusion and shrugged. "You have shitty taste in literature. But sure, if I'm going to be stuck in here all day, I'll read your books."

"You got it," Gabriel replied with a grin. 

The two men stared at each other for a long moment, then Gabriel spoke again, but not to Jack. "Lights off. Darken windows." Immediately the lights lowered and the windows polarized to cut off even the night time glow of the city, plunging the room into complete darkness. Jack tensed, his senses electric as he waited for what the Reaper would do next.

He heard a whisper, windblown leaves across a gravestone, and then Reaper rose up right in front of him. Arms wrapped around him. Jack jerked back, but had nowhere to go, his back pressed against the unyielding surface of the window.

"Hey," Reaper whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I told you not to touch me," Jack hissed. Gabriel was going to kiss him again, he knew it, and he didn't know how he was going to react. He still couldn't believe he hadn't bitten Gabe's tongue off earlier, and he liked to think he'd do better this time, but his heart was pounding and his breathing racing and he knew it wasn't fear. 

He was pathetic, to go all gooey like he was back in high school again, holding hands with his first crush. But berating himself for it wasn't helping him to stay aloof in the face of Gabriel's overtures. 

"You said not to touch you with my gloves," Gabriel said, his voice a deep, husky purr, overlaid by the strange harmonics of his transformation. Bare fingers touched Jack's cheek, brushing lightly from the corner of his mouth up to his ear. The gentle touch triggered a shiver that ran right down Jack's spine.

Somehow, Jack put his hands on Gabriel's chest and shoved him back, ducking under his arm and stepping away. He nearly slammed right into the sofa as he backed off, brushing by it hard enough to knock himself off course. "I _also_ said I'm not interested in fucking anyone who's keeping me chained up and prisoner," he snarled.

"We don't have to fuck," Gabriel said as Jack retreated into the bedroom. "Wait, Jack." 

Jack had nowhere to go or hide. He kept walking, though, and only stopped when Gabriel grabbed him by the arm. He turned. "Leave me alone!"

"No. You belong to me," Reaper said. His voice had gone cold. "I told you to stop."

The sound of Reaper's voice shriveled Jack's erection and he tensed once more. It had been a while since Reaper attacked him - since the medicine incident - and he fully expected to piss him off enough to cause it any minute now. 

Reaper caught him by the wrist ungently, but instead of pushing him down, exerting his dominance, the circlet on Jack's wrist sprung open. "Take off your clothes."

"No," Jack hissed.

"Do it, Jack!"

"I said no!" Jack snapped, taking another step away, but Reaper closed the distance, and Jack's hip slammed painfully into the night stand, stopping his retreat. Gabriel grabbed him by the arms, and Jack mentally prepared himself for the pain that was to come. 

"Stop being such a baby," Gabriel growled.

"...What?" Jack asked, thrown off. 

They were inches apart, and Jack could feel Gabriel's breath on his skin as they faced off. "It's bedtime, so take your clothes off. I said I wasn't going to hurt you. So stop being a _fucking_ baby, Jack."

"I'm not being a baby." Jack heard the sulky tone in his own voice and winced. 

Was Gabriel really being serious, or was he intending to rape him? And honestly, did it matter? Jack didn't know what to expect anymore, but he knew if Reaper wanted to hurt him he could. He drew a breath and let it out. "Fine. I'll take my goddamn clothes off and go to bed if it'll make you happy." 

"Better," Gabriel said with satisfaction.

Jack tugged free of Gabriel's grasp and shrugged out of his coat, feeling out of sorts and confused. Just a few days ago, Reaper would have beaten the shit out of him or choked him out for this act of defiance. 

Was all this - all this _niceness_ \- because he was coming off that medication, or was it an attempt to manipulate Jack? The more changes Jack saw in Gabriel, the more inclined he was to believe it was genuine, but that only scared him more.

If Gabriel really was in there and trying to get out, could Jack bring himself to kill him if he got the chance?

He could feel Gabriel's eyes on him as he pulled off his clothing, and cursed his certainty that Reaper could see in the dark. But he'd already spent enough time naked in the Reaper's presence in the last few days that it was silly to feel shy. He shucked his pants and Reaper took hold of his wrist, locking the cuffs back in place, an indignity that Jack suffered without putting up a fight.

He pulled back the blankets and climbed into bed, wondering if Reaper was going to watch him all night again.

There was some rustling from Reaper for a while, long enough that Jack began to wonder what the hell he was doing, and then the blankets were pulled back a second time. Gabriel slid in behind Jack and wrapped his arms around him once more. He was nude.

Jack closed his eyes tightly and prepared for whatever Gabriel intended to do next.

"Jack," Gabriel whispered into the back of his neck. "Tell me more about myself."

Jack's eyes popped open and he caught his breath in shock. This wasn't the first time Gabe had asked for information about the man he'd been, but never before had Reaper referred to Gabriel Reyes as _himself_.

It wasn't a request Jack could deny him, and he didn't even try.

"You and I first met when we were picked for a government supersoldier program. We were assigned to the same room. I think you thought I was an uptight tool at first, and you set about trying to get me to loosen up." Jack closed his eyes. "It worked."

He talked for an hour, or maybe longer, while Gabriel held him in silence. He didn't think about what he should say, just moving from story to story, telling Gabriel anything he could think of. Eventually, he fell silent, his throat sore, but still Gabriel didn't move and didn't say anything.

Eventually, Jack fell asleep, not knowing if what he'd said had touched Reaper at all, or if it had ultimately fallen on deaf ears.

He woke suddenly a while later. The darkness was so total, he had no idea how much time had passed, and it took him a few moments to even figure out what had disturbed him. 

Beside him, Gabriel lay on his back, the covers twisted up around him. He moaned, a hollow, desperate sound. 

"Gabe," Jack whispered. Was he asleep? He had said he couldn't sleep. Cautiously, Jack shook Gabriel's shoulder. "Gabriel, wake up."

Gabriel jerked suddenly and grabbed Jack's hand, squeezing it so hard that Jack worried for a moment that he'd crack a bone. However, this was far from the first time that Jack had woken Gabriel from nightmares, and it was like a reflex. He knew just what to do.

Jack kept his voice even and soft. "It's okay, Gabe. I'm here."

"Jack?" Gabriel loosened his grip on Jack's hand and caught Jack by the back of the head instead, bringing their foreheads together. He was breathing hard, and Jack felt sweat standing out on his brow. Jack brought up both hands to cup Gabriel's face, whispering reassurances, and felt tears under his palms.

"It's all right, Gabe," he whispered, over and over. "It's okay."

"Jack... _Jesus_ fuck," Gabriel said. He drew a breath, and shuddered it out. "I remember everything, Jack." 

Then he uttered the most terrifying words Jack had heard so far.

"Please, help me."


	9. Chapter 9

"Please, help me," Gabriel pleaded. 

Jack couldn't see him in the dark, couldn't look into his eyes and try to judge if that madness was finally gone, but in that moment he utterly believed that his friend was back. He pulled him close and held him as Gabriel shuddered in his arms. Gabe's talons - the natural ones, not the ones on his gloves - bit into Jack's arm as he clung desperately to the warmth and comfort that Jack provided, and this time Jack didn't mind.

"I'm here," Jack said again. "Calm down, Gabe."

He couldn't have turned away in that moment, no matter how monstrous Gabriel had been over the last few days, no matter that he had tortured two men to death earlier that day, no matter that he had made Jack's life a living hell and tried to murder him and everyone he cared about. He couldn't have spurned him in the face of that plea.

But after a little while, he remembered where they were.

"Talk to me, Gabe," he murmured. "How did this happen?"

"It was Her-- Moira," Gabriel said, and Jack shivered. That reverence - and fear - he had in his voice when he talked about O'Deorain was still there. At least he'd been able to bring himself to say her name for once. "I think it was even before Venice," Gabriel went on gruffly. "She offered me a couple of upgrades. I trusted her... she was one of my people. She had worked on Genji, without any problems, I never even thought-- the experiment worked. But things started to change after that, starting with killing Antonio. Jesse was all over me - _you_ were all over me - but I just didn't care."

"You didn't care that I was angry at you for outing Blackwatch?" Jack asked.

"No, no," Gabriel shook his head. "I cared about that. It was a strategic failure, and I knew I fucked up. I didn't care that I'd murdered an unarmed man in cold blood that I should have brought in to stand trial."

Jack hesitated, then asked the question burning in his mind. "And now? Now suddenly you care?"

Gabriel swallowed audibly. "I'm a fucking monster, Jack... you have no idea what I've done. And _yeah_ , something's changed."

"Then let me go."

Jack's quiet demand hung in the air, dangling like a bloated corpse swinging from a tree. A part of Jack worried he was pushing too far, that Gabriel's changes were still in their infancy. But the rest of him was ruthless - if Gabriel was telling the truth, if he remembered who he was and felt empathy for other people once again, then he would do it.

But if he was full of shit, if he was manipulating Jack, then he would find some excuse.

Besides, there was no telling if this change was permanent. Gabriel could become the Reaper again in the next five minutes, and Jack's opportunity would be lost.

Gabriel made a soft sound of surprise, but reached for Jack's wrist. "Yeah, of course, Jack." He touched the cuffs, and they sprung open - both wrists this time. Gabriel gathered the chains up and flung them away from both of them, so they clattered on the floor.

Jack was in shock. But he wasn't done, and he didn't hesitate to push his advantage. 

"Not just the cuffs, Gabe," he said, relentlessly. "I want out. I want you to take me out of this room, out of this building, and let me _go_."

He held his breath. Here was where the excuses would come in. Regardless of why Gabriel was doing or saying all this, taking cuffs off was easy. This was a commitment that Jack was demanding of him. But if Gabriel were really the man he used to be, he wouldn't hesitate to protect Jack, even if it meant he would himself suffer.

And as Jack expected, Gabriel hesitated. "I... just hang on, Jack."

"I knew it," Jack growled, pulling away from the other man. He reached for the corner of the blanket, his skin crawling at the idea of being touched by Gabriel for another second. "You are so full of shit. Has all of it been a lie? Let me guess - you remembered this _entire_ time."

"Wait!" Gabriel grabbed him by the wrist. "I said wait."

"Why?" Jack turned back, jerking his hand out of Gabriel's grasp. The other man recoiled as if the words were a whip lashing in his face. "Because I 'belong' to you? Because you want so fucking much for us to be murder buddies together?"

"No!" 

Gabriel pushed up and out of the bed on the other side, and Jack quickly stood, tense for a fight. He could hear Gabriel moving around and wasn't sure if he was going to come around the bed or over it when he came after him. All he did know was that Gabriel could see in the dark, and Jack couldn't, and he was just going to have to rely on his other instincts and senses to survive what came next.

What came next was more words. "Damnit, Jack. Give me a fucking _minute_ here, would you?"

"If you think I will _willingly_ stay here for even _one minute_ out of my life, you are dreaming, Reaper," Jack growled in a low and menacing tone. "I already told you, I will kill you and get out of here, or die trying."

Gabriel laughed, a quiet and horror-filled sound not unlike a sob. "Right, right. Okay." He paused. "Okay, I get it, Jack."

"What do you get?" Jack asked.

"I'm the Reaper," Gabriel said. "I may not have meant for all this to happen, but it did, and we can't just pretend it didn't. I don't expect you to forgive me."

This was a different tack than Jack expected him to take, and it caught him off guard. He frowned. "What are you getting at?"

Gabriel's voice was soft. "When I take you out of here, will you take me with you?"

Jack hesitated. "Gabriel, I don't--"

There was that whispering sound again, and suddenly Gabriel was right in front of him. He grasped Jack's hand in both of his, squeezing it with desperation. "Jack, please, listen to me. I'm turning myself in. I want you to arrest me."

"Why?" Jack blurted out. 

"Are you kidding me?" Gabriel released his hand and shrugged. He was just close enough that Jack could see the movement, even with how dark it was. "Who else knows me better, especially _this_ me? You're the only one who I can trust who's smart enough to figure out how to lock me away, and ruthless enough to do it."

Jack felt like he'd just had a bucket of ice cold water dumped over his head. His skin was numb with the shock of what he'd just heard, and - truth be told - stung. "You... _want_ me to lock you up and throw away the key?" he asked. 

Weirdly, the idea wasn't attractive in the least. 

If Gabriel really was the victim he claimed to be, then was it even his fault what Moira had done to him? If he was telling the truth, she had all but controlled him like a puppet, taking away his memories and emotions and ordering him to commit his crimes. He hadn't known better, or been in any position to resist. He hadn't betrayed Jack, because he hadn't even remembered that Jack existed.

But if Gabriel was lying, why would he submit to imprisonment?

"Yeah," Gabriel said, and his voice was firm and strong for the first time in this conversation. "Yeah, I do."

Now it was Jack who was hesitating. "I don't have a prison, Gabe," he said. "I'm a mercenary. What am I supposed to do, put you in chains and drag you around after me while I fight Talon?"

"You don't have a prison," Gabriel said. "But you know people who do."

Jack swallowed. "There are cells at Gibraltar."

"I remember," Gabriel murmured.

"Can a cell even hold you?" Jack asked.

"You'll have to figure out a way," Gabriel said. He drew in a breath and let it out. "Honestly, Jack... I'm scared. I don't know if this clarity is gonna last, and I can't stand the thought of being used by Talon another minute."

Jack shifted from foot to foot, trying to think through every angle, but every thought he chased down just led to the same place. He was going to have to take Gabriel with him, and he was going to have to go to the Watchpoint at Gibraltar. The only other alternative was to hand Gabriel over to legitimate authorities, and to be frank, he was sure that wouldn't work. Talon had their hands in too many pies. Once Moira discovered her plaything was missing, she would pull strings until he was released, no matter where he was, or who had him.

Unless he was held by an organization that was outside of the law. An organization that officially didn't exist. Unless he disappeared forever, and no one knew where he was except those Jack trusted.

Overwatch, or what was left of it.The last thing he wanted to do was reveal himself to his old compatriots, yet now Gabriel didn’t seem to be leaving him with any other choice.

"Okay," he said. "I'll do it."


	10. Chapter 10

The logistics of their escape needed to be discussed and fully worked out before the two former Overwatch agents could actually execute their plan. Once Jack had made his decision and it seemed that - against all odds - Gabriel really was going to let him go, he found himself falling easily into joint mission planning mode. It was an effortless mentality to slip back into, in spite of - or maybe because of - the company.

First things first - recon and information gathering. Jack dressed and sat down on the sofa to interrogate his prisoner. Gabriel also put his clothes back on and sat uncomfortably in a chair, looking haggard in the light, and submitted to Jack's questions.

"Who will miss you?" Jack asked. "And how long before they do?"

Gabriel shrugged. "The only one who really kept tabs on me most of the time was... Moira." Jack could tell even speaking the woman's name was still an effort for him. "She's in Oasis until tomorrow." He looked up. "Jack, whatever you decide, we've gotta get out of here before She comes back."

"I don't plan to stick around," Jack assured him in a growl "What can she do? What should we prepare for if somehow we encounter her?"

He shook his head, and for the first time in Jack's memory, Gabriel Reyes looked afraid. "I don't know."

In that moment, Jack reaffirmed his intention to kill Moira O'Deorain. 

"Let's not worry about it for now, then," he said. "How about my equipment? Where is it?"

"I'll get it back for you," Gabriel said. "Shouldn't be difficult. Like I said, no one's keeping close tabs on me. Those who might want to try to tell me what to do couldn't care less what I do most of the time, and the rest of them are too scared to ask."

That was promising. If Gabriel really was telling the truth, he could go around and make their preparations, and then they could leave with no one the wiser - so long as they did it before Moira got back tomorrow.

"What about the ones you killed?" Jack asked bluntly. "No one's going to be looking at you more after that?"

Gabriel grunted and rubbed a hand over his scarred face. "Jack, what I did yesterday wasn't exactly unusual," he said hollowly. "Can we get on with this? I'm tellin' you, this isn't complicated. I'll pack a bag, put cuffs on you, and march you right out the door. No one will look at us twice until I've been missing for a while. Maybe even days. By then, you'll have me squared away."

"Your plan is a good one for getting away from this place," Jack said. "But it's not good enough. I don't want to simply get out of here - I want to accomplish something before we go."

Gabriel blinked and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Jack leaned forward. "I mean we have an opportunity here. I'm not content with just getting away - this is the closest I've been to actual Talon since I started fighting back after Overwatch was disbanded. I'm not leaving without sabotaging their operations in whatever way I can."

"Jack, you have _me_. I'm a source of intel. I'm one of their most dangerous assets. By taking me out of here, you are sabotaging Talon," Gabriel said.

"That's a fair point," Jack said. "And trust me, I intend to use what you know to do as much damage as possible. But won't be satisfied by only running away, Gabe."

Gabriel swallowed. "What else do you want to do? It can't take long."

"Don't worry," Jack said. "We'll have time to get out."

~ ~ ~

Two hours later, Gabriel transported Jack out of their suite and into the hallway outside. Jack had had time for a shower and a shave, and to eat something as well. Despite his healing injuries, he felt invigorated, and even the brief uncomfortable trip held in Gabriel's arms and unable to take a breath didn't wipe him out like it had in the past. Of course, they didn't have as far to go, this time.

It was less enjoyable to have his arms tightly bound behind his back. Gabriel had insisted that if he was going to be seen transporting Jack as his prisoner, it would cause less comment if he were restrained, which Jack agreed with.

Gabriel carried a discreet bag on his shoulder and was wearing his mask - something he hadn't done, to Jack's knowledge, since his medication had really started to wear off. Allowing Gabriel to restrain him, and seeing him back in his Reaper garb, didn't sit well with Jack. But he knew that at this point, they were committed. Even if Gabriel were lying, Jack had to trust him at least until they got out of the building.

First, they went down to the prison level. Gabriel paraded him down the hallway, opening each door and making snide comments as they viewed each unfortunate prisoner. He told Jack dark stories, of who each person was, and what had been done to them by Talon, ensuring that Jack was able to get a good look at their injuries and - in some cases - the experimentation that had been done on their bodies.

All the while, he implied that the same would be done to Jack.

Also all the while, Jack wore a tiny hidden camera, secreted in his collar, recording every minute.

Jack couldn't help but feel guiltily relieved that he didn't recognize anyone.

When they were done, Gabriel and Jack returned to the elevator and rose back upwards. Despite the fact that Jack knew he was in no danger, it had been an ordeal. He felt sick to his stomach at the things that he'd seen.

He could only take comfort in the fact that he was about to ensure that at least some of those people would have some measure of peace. Maybe even revenge.

As they stood together in the elevator, Jack wondered if Gabriel was experiencing the same sick feeling as he did. With the mask on, Gabriel's face was unreadable, and Jack didn't dare to ask. 

"Lab next." Gabriel murmured. It shouldn't have been a question - they had discussed the plan thoroughly and they both knew it - but somehow it sounded like one anyway. Jack nodded, and the elevator doors opened. Gabriel grabbed Jack by the arm and marched him down an institutionally-cleaned white hallway towards a set of steel doors.

They passed a few uniformed Talon members on the way. None of them said anything, and few even looked up. Most of them kept their heads down and walked more quickly as they passed the Reaper and his prisoner. Jack wondered if this was normal, or if it was even worse than usual after the Reaper had murdered two of their own so recently.

Either way, it was a good thing. The fewer people who looked at them closely, the better.

Gabriel pushed through the doors and Jack instantly recognized the place. Less than a week ago, he had been strapped to a table in this room, as Moira O'Deorain considered what horrific experiments to try on him. Well, now she wouldn't have a chance.

Jack looked around. There were a few techs in the room, who had turned to stare at them with wary interest. He looked at Gabriel.

"Everybody out," Reaper ordered in a harsh, gravelly voice. "Now." He gave Jack a shove towards one of the operating tables. "Get on."

Jack stumbled and hit the table harder than he had meant to, unable to catch himself with his hands shackled behind his back. In near-unison, the techs packed up their things and fled. Within minutes, all of them had departed, the door closing with finality behind them.

Reaper did a sweep of the room, making sure there wasn't anyone lingering, then picked up a large and heavy instrument and slid it through the handles on the door, barring them - at least temporarily. It would stop someone from accidentally walking in on them, though it wouldn't stop a determined effort to get in.

Jack intended to be gone long before enough people noticed that it became a problem.

"Hurry up," Jack said as Gabriel returned from barring the door. 

"Don't rush me," Gabriel growled, pulling off one of his clawed gloves and reaching for Jack. The cuffs sprang open and Jack relaxed his arms, rubbing at his wrists, which were still bruised from his earlier mistreatment. 

Gabriel handed Jack an external hard drive, and Jack went to Moira's main computer. One of the techs had been using it, and as he had hoped, she hadn't logged off in her haste to leave. He didn't even have to worry about passwords, he just plugged the drive into the computer and began copying files. If they were lucky, there'd be enough damning information about Moira's experiments that - if put into the right hands - he could bring her to justice and shut down her entire operation.

If not, he still had other options.

Gabriel began opening cabinets and reading labels. He pulled jugs of chemicals out of the cabinets and began combining them in a large container. 

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Jack asked as he watched the files being copied, the percentage slowly ticking up to 100 percent. 

"I can read a goddamn instruction manual as easily as you can, Jack," Gabriel growled. "Do you know how many people out there have published instructions for this on the internet?"

"More than I'd want to know, I'll bet," Jack acknowledged.

"You'd be right," Gabriel agreed.

The files finished copying just as Gabriel finished creating his concoction. Jack pulled the drive from the computer, then shut it down. The fact that all the files had been copied would likely be recorded under the tech's login, but he didn't care if she got in trouble. She probably deserved far worse.

As he moved towards Gabriel, he passed an open cabinet. The other man was bent over his container, stirring the contents and hooking a length of wire into the entire contraption. Jack reached into the cabinet and pulled a filled syringe out of a labelled container, then slipped it up his sleeve. Then he walked over to his companion.

Gabriel looked up as he approached. "Almost done."

The doors rattled, and both men looked in that direction with concern. "You'd better be," Jack said.

"I'd better lock you up again."

Jack turned away and put his hands together, allowing Gabriel to lock the cuffs into place. He waited while Gabriel finished his set-up and lit the fuse.

"Better go," Gabriel said, grabbing Jack by the arm again. They walked rapidly towards the door. Gabriel pulled the instrument out of the handle and pulled the door open, surprising the startled man in the hallway.

"Oh! Mr-- Ah Reaper," he said, going pale. "I couldn't open the door."

"You're an idiot," Reaper told him. "Stand aside."

He walked Jack down the hallway to the elevator, then punched the button for the lower basement.

As they descended, there was an enormous _crump_ sound, and the elevator shook. Jack lost his footing, and Gabriel reached out, grabbing him around the waist and steadying him against his chest. Jack wound up with his ear pressed to Gabriel's chest, but all he heard was the shouting and panic produced by the explosion, his own breathing, and then the fire alarm drowning out every other noise.

No heartbeat, but maybe he just hadn't heard it.

Gabriel unlocked his cuffs again and pocketed them, and when the doors opened he and Jack raced out into a dark underground parking lot. Even in the underground, the ambient Numbanian heat was oppressive. The moment the doors opened, Jack felt like he was breathing in a sauna. But he swallowed his discomfort and followed Gabriel past expensive cars and motorcycles.

"What should we take?" Gabriel asked. 

"Something with tinted windows," Jack opined. Gabriel turned to the side and passed a few rows of cars, coming to a black sedan with tinted windows. Even the windshield was opaque, and Jack had the feeling the whole vehicle was bullet proof as well.

"This'll do," Gabriel said, and opened the door.

"Whose is this?" Jack asked as he slid into the passenger seat, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Company car," Gabriel said, turning on the engine. The car shuddered slightly as it rose into the air, hovering a few inches above the concrete as its wheels turned to face downwards and changed to hover mode. "We use these for high value transportation missions. VIPs."

"I'm flattered," Jack said. Gabriel looked at him, briefly, and Jack had the impression he was grinning.

They moved out of the parking lot at an unhurried pace. Gabriel rolled down the window when they reached the guard station, and Jack turned his face away, slouching in his seat as if bored.

"Did you hear about the fire?" the guard said, then looked again and blanched when he recognized who he was so casually talking to.

"Didn't notice," Reaper growled. "I'm busy."

"Yes of course, sir," the guard said. "You, ah, have a good afternoon."

"Good," Reaper drawled, and pulled away onto the street, leaving the building in chaos behind them. 

They drove for several minutes in silence. Reaper removed his mask and tossed it into the back seat, then rolled up the sleeves of his robe. Driving one-handed, he reached behind Jack and released his cuffs. The cuffs joined Reaper's mask in the back.

Jack watched the city pass by, thinking about how different things had been when he first arrived. When he got to this city, he had been on a solo mission, intending to hit Talon in some minor way, do a little damage, and hope that all the little pokes and prods that he had delivered over the years would eventually add up to something.

Now he had just planted a bomb in Moira's lab, stolen thousands of gigabytes of data, and gathered enough photographic evidence of illegal activity to all but guarantee that someone would pay attention. 

The main complication was the one who'd made it happen. Jack had spent the last several hours trying to convince himself that it didn't matter who Gabriel was - he had to treat him the same as he would anyone in his situation. Gabriel wasn't just Jack's ex-lover, his ex- best friend, his ex- everything. He was also a man who had been brainwashed, who had committed countless murders, under duress - but it was unknown whether or when he would back slide.

"Where're we headed, Jack?" Gabriel asked laconically, glancing sidelong at his passenger. "Airport? Or is there some other option for an extraction?"

Jack had been considering the same question all day. Without hesitation, he named an address. 

Gabriel shrugged and punched the address into the onboard GPS on the vehicle, and headed where he was bid. They drove towards the tired suburbs of Numbani, close to the area where Jack had first encountered Reaper not that long ago. They didn't go to the same Talon-controlled warehouse, of course, but to a place several blocks away.

The building was an abandoned house, bearing signs of having been used in the past for various seedy purposes - it had been a flophouse, a brothel, a drug den. Currently, it was boarded up and empty.

"What is this?" Gabriel asked, stepping out of the car and taking in the weedy front yard, the boarded up windows, the front door that sagged open like a gaping, toothless mouth. "Is this a safehouse for you?"

Jack got out of the car and circled around to stand beside Gabriel. "No," he said, and jabbed the syringe he'd stolen into Gabriel's neck. Before he could react, Jack depressed the plunger.

Gabriel gasped as the needle penetrated his skin. He started to turn, though the gesture was basically reflexive - the drug was already taking hold even as he turned a shocked and betrayed look on Jack. Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.

Jack caught him and gently lowered him to the ground. _Thank god that worked,_ he thought. He honestly didn't know what he would have done if the drug had done nothing.

He stripped Reaper's claws and weapons from him, cuffed him, and blindfolded him, then loaded his unconscious prisoner into the back of the car. Then Jack got into the driver's seat. Only moments after they had arrived at the random house he'd named, Jack had turned the car back onto the road and was headed back into town.


	11. Chapter 11

When the Reaper awakened after Jack drugged him, it was to a feeling of complete and unfamiliar disorientation. He opened his eyes, but nothing but darkness greeted him. His head pounded and his mouth tasted cottony. There was something tied around his eyes - a blindfold? He reached up to touch his own face, but his hand moved only an inch before a cold steel manacle tightened around his wrist, forcing him to desist.

"Jack?" he called out. He couldn't see anything. Why couldn't he _see_?

There was no answer.

Panic rose and he struggled not to submit to it. But he couldn't stop himself from jerking upwards a few inches, fighting the bonds for a few seconds. The chains fastened around his wrists rattled. An air conditioning system whooshed, muted. 

A door clanged open.

"Cut that out, Gabriel. You'll just hurt yourself."

The voice was low and gravelly, and very familiar, but it wasn't the person he'd been calling for. He relaxed onto the bed again and turned his face towards the speaker, but he still couldn't see a thing. 

"Where's Jack, Winston?" he demanded.

"Gone."

The single word felt like a slap in the face. He was silent for a moment, gasping.

"But he's coming back," Gabriel said, and heard the pathetic hopefulness in his own voice. He swallowed, trying to get hold of himself, and waited for Winston's reply.

It didn't take long to come. Winston's big paw touched his hand, gently checking his bonds. "I wouldn't count on that, Reyes. How do you feel?"

Anger flared in Gabriel's chest. "How do I feel? I feel like I'm strapped to a goddamn hospital bed, and blindfolded, and my best friend lied to me and drugged me. How do you _think_?"

Winston walked around his bed and touched his other wrist, giving a light tug to the chains. "I think you joined Talon and tried to kill us all," he said mildly. 

Gabriel shifted in his bonds. "If you talked to Jack, you would know that's not the whole story."

"I know that's what you want us to believe. But I also I know that when you discovered Commander Morrison was alive, you kidnapped and tortured him. And that was just this week."

"I was drugged! I was brainwashed!"

Winston made a soft, rumbling growl in reply.

Gabriel didn't care if the gorilla was pissed off at him. He pushed with his elbows, shifting himself up a few inches. He was at a distinct disadvantage, restrained as he was, but he wouldn't let Winston dismiss him. 

"I'm here, aren't I?" Gabriel hissed. "I brought Jack to you, instead of killing him. I _told_ Jack to arrest me, and hold me so I wouldn't hurt anyone else."

"Yeah," Winston said. "I heard all about that, but Jack and I both agreed that it doesn't mean much. You're a smart man, Gabriel Reyes, and you've been a member of Talon for a long time. Either way, though, it doesn't matter. Whatever your reasons for cooperating with Jack, you're here now, and you're not getting out."

Jack agreed with him?

Winston was walking away - Reaper could hear his heavy, distinctive tread-slap of his bare knuckles and feet on the floor. The panic rose up again, all but strangling him. 

"Wait! What about the intel I have? I can tell you everything about Talon, I can help you plan your next attack."

To his relief, Winston did stop, but his reply did nothing to quell the panic. "Gabriel, nothing you tell us can be trusted."

Was he kidding? Had he seriously done all of this for nothing?

By now She would know that he had left with Jack and hadn't come back. If they'd left the way Gabriel had wanted to - quietly - then She might have taken some time to come to the conclusion that Reaper wasn't coming back, and that would have bought them some time. But with the sabotage to the lab, and his own participation in the videos that Jack had undoubtedly spread through the internet by now, She would know he was involved.

The usefulness of his information was slipping away minute by minute, and they weren't going to capitalize on any of it?

"You're an idiot," he snarled. "I want to talk to Jack, right now!"

"No, Gabriel," Winston said. There was a clang and a creak as the door opened. "You're now a prisoner of Overwatch, an organization that you helped destroy. You're never going to see Jack Morrison again. Get used to the idea."

"That's bullshit. You think you can hold me?" Reaper hissed. "You think these fucking handcuffs can stop me? You think I need to _see_ to escape?" 

He faded to mist and floated up towards the ceiling. The blindfold and the cuffs around his wrists and ankles fell away. Winston backpedaled into the hallway, reaching for his tesla cannon, which was propped against the wall just beyond the door. Reaper didn't give him a chance to fight back. He dove through the doorway and upwards and vanished into the vent in the ceiling, as Winston roared and lightning licked at Reaper's heels.

It took no more than a glance out of the next grate he encountered to confirm what he already knew - he was at the Watchpoint in Gibraltar, a place he knew as well as he knew the building in Numbani where he had lived for the past few years as a full-fledged member of Talon. 

He headed straight for one of the secondary command centres, where he was sure he'd find a computer. Winston was meticulous. Athena even moreso. Somewhere, there would be data he could access to find out what he needed to know. And hopefully, it would take a little time for Winston to get there, giving him a window of opportunity.

He landed in the small room and stood in front of the computer, putting his fingers on the keyboard. 

"You are not authorized to access this terminal," said Athena. "I have alerted Winston and he is heading for your location. I urge you to surrender."

"I'm Gabriel Reyes, head of Blackwatch," he snarled. 

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" Athena inquired. "Your login was purged years ago, Commander Reyes."

Gabriel slammed his fist on the desk. "Just tell me where Jack is, Athena!"

The door slid open and Gabriel tensed for a fight. His hand groped for anything he could use for a weapon against an angry gorilla who could throw lightning bolts. He grabbed onto a small socket wrench and he whirled around, raising the instrument over his head.

"I'm right here, Gabe," Jack said. He stood in the doorway, wearing a flak jacket and carrying his pulse rifle in his hands. The rifle was pointed to the side, but the way he held it, he could easily bring it up to aim.

Gabriel wanted to hug him. And then punch him in the face. 

"What the _fuck_ , Jack? Winston said you were gone."

"Winston said what I told him to say," Jack said. His eyes were hard as ice, and he swung the rifle up to point at Gabriel. "Stand down, Reaper."

Nonplussed, Gabriel lowered the wrench and allowed it to fall to the floor with a clatter. He raised his hands to shoulder height. "You aren't seriously going to shoot me, are you?"

"Seems to me I'm looking at an escaping Talon prisoner, so explain why I _shouldn't_ shoot you," Jack snapped.

Gabriel lowered his hands and took a step forward, apparently heedless of the danger. It was a calculated risk. He could become a wraith if he had to, and they both knew it, but he still didn't really want Jack to shoot him. "Jack, you're being crazy. We're on the same side, here. We got out of Talon _together_ , and I'm the one who suggested that you bring me here in the first place. You don't need to _shoot_ me. I wasn't trying to escape."

"Really," Jack said flatly. "What exactly were you doing if you weren't trying to escape? Because it looked to me like in the five minutes you've been conscious, you broke out of your restraints, fled your cell, and tried to access our computer system."

"I..." Gabriel was set on his heels by that. Okay, sure that was what he had _done_ , but Jack was completely taking it out of context.

Jack still had the gun pointed at him. "Listen to me, Gabriel, and understand what I'm saying. I don't trust this. Maybe everything you've said is true - you might even believe every word of it. But that doesn't change a few clear facts. First, it's been about twenty-four hours since you had this revelation, and it might not last. Second, _it was your idea that I bring you to Overwatch_."

Gabriel's eyes widened. "Jack, this isn't a tactic. I'm not here to hurt anyone, I swear to god--"

"Then stop demanding that I trust you, and prove to me that I can."

Gabriel stared at him for a long moment, then swallowed and raised his hands again. "You did this on purpose, didn't you," he said softly, and sank to his knees, bringing his hands to the back of his head and lacing his fingers together. The tips of his claws dug into the backs of his hands. "You told Winston to tell me you were gone, to push me, because you wanted to see how I'd react."

"Of course I did, you fucking idiot," Jack said gruffly. "Now answer my question. What do you think you were doing?"

Gabriel took a moment to try to compose himself before answering. His anger still pulsed in his chest, and he knew he'd been acting impulsively. He had to stop doing what he wanted to, and behave like Jack wanted him to.

Jack had always been the calm one, the one who pulled him back and made him think when he wanted to react. That was one of the reasons they had worked so well together in the past. Gabriel had always acknowledged how much he relied on Jack to be his balance. 

Now it was more important than ever that he do this right.

"I wanted to find out where you went," he said. "I thought maybe you had gone on a mission against Talon, and I figured if Winston wasn't going to listen to me, you'd set him straight." He looked up. "Jack, you _are_ going to use me, aren't you? You can't--"

"Gabe! Stop telling me what I can and can't do," Jack snapped. 

Gabriel shut his mouth and glared up at him. There was a long silence as the two men stared each other down. Finally, Gabriel looked away.

"I wasn't trying to escape," Gabriel said stubbornly. "I was just trying to find you. You're the only one I can trust."

"What if I hadn't wanted to be found?" Jack asked. He lowered his pulse rifle and sighed. "Thanks to you, I had to reveal myself to Winston, and I already told him I can't in good conscience ask him to keep this a secret for me. Soon, they'll all know I'm alive."

Gabriel frowned. "Wait... They didn't know?"

"You didn't know," Jack pointed out. "What makes you think they did?"

"Because they're your allies," Gabriel exclaimed, stunned. "They're your friends. Why didn't you tell them you survived?"

"Because." Jack stepped closer to Gabriel and walked around behind him. "After what you and Moira did, I learned that I can't trust anyone, anymore."

Gabriel felt numb. He scarcely reacted as Jack grabbed him by the upper arm and dragged him to his feet, though he didn't resist. 

It made sense. All of Overwatch had fallen apart, and even though Jack hadn't known that Gabriel was the Reaper, he had to have known that there were traitors inside Overwatch. Not knowing that Gabriel was the traitor might have even made it worse. He wouldn't have had any idea who might have been behind the explosion, besides Moira, who couldn't have acted alone.

"Jack..." Gabriel turned to look at him, his feet carrying him forward obediently to Jack's pull, though he didn't know where they were going. "It's just me and Her. None of the others were in Talon."

"Good to know," Jack said gruffly. He stared straight ahead, hand like iron on Gabriel's arm and his pulse rifle held cross-ways across his chest as if he were ready to shoot Gabriel. 

"I'm not lying to you."

Jack didn't reply. 

They walked in silence, and Gabriel realized without much surprise that Jack was leading him back down to the basement. 

"There's really no point in putting me in a cell, you know," Gabriel said softly. "These cells can't hold me."

Jack said nothing.

"That's why you blindfolded me, isn't it?" Gabriel said. "You hoped if I couldn't see, I couldn't teleport out of the cell. But I can just fade to mist. I didn't need Winston to open the door. I can get out any time I want."

Jack cast a baleful glare at him. "What's your point?"

They were descending a staircase, and Gabriel saw the open door of his cell right up ahead. Winston stood by it, holding his tesla cannon, his teeth peeled back from his gigantic teeth in an unfriendly snarl.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "My _point_ is, what's the point in this? I can get out any time I want. So why _bother_ putting me in a cell?"

Jack pulled him to a halt, outside the door. Now that Gabriel could see, he saw that the cell was spartan, containing just the bed he'd been cuffed to, a chair, and a small desk with a lamp on it. Winston must have removed the cuffs and blindfold, because they were nowhere in sight.

"The _point_ , you absolute jackass," Jack hissed. "Is that you _stay there_."

Gabriel stared at Jack for a long moment, before it dawned on him what he was saying. Jack wanted him to earn his trust, and doing what he _could_ wouldn't show Jack that Gabriel was worthy of that trust. He had to do something else.

Like sit in a cell like the terrorist and murderer that he was, even though he had the power to escape.

"Right," he said, glancing into the cell with distaste. He took a step into the room, then stopped, turning as the door began to swing closed. "But you'll visit, right?" he asked, looking at Jack with a desperate hope.

Jack turned away, and the door closed with a clang.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack stood at the console in the main command centre at Watchpoint: Gibraltar, with Winston at his elbow. There were several monitors in front of him, some of them maps depicting the locations of various agents in the field, and one display that showed an overhead view of the small confines of Gabriel Reyes' cell. Gabriel was pacing, but at least he hadn't tried to leave again.

It was indescribably strange to be here, in this place where he had stood a thousand times. 

It was completely familiar, but on an emotional and spiritual level, there was no way to relate the two experiences. Jack was a completely different person than he had been before - older and less naive, he would say. Others might say he was damaged and jaded. There were also several physical changes to the room since the last time he had stood here. For one thing, the chair had been altered to accommodate a simian body. Also, there were several empty containers of peanut butter sitting on the table.

The biggest change was the fact that he had to stand here and watch his best friend on a hidden camera, and try to figure out how to assess whether he was a monster or not.

"Why don't we call Ana?" Winston asked in his thoughtful way, tilting his head and pushing his glasses up his nose with one meaty finger. "Maybe she can do something for him."

"Because she'll shoot him," Jack said wryly. "She's never been a soft touch."

Winston made a soft, skeptical rumble. "I think she always cared about all of us."

"That's why she'll kill him if she can." 

"Ah..."

Jack sighed and sat down on the edge of the desk, his body half turned to look at Winston, but positioned so that could still watch the monitor showing Gabriel's cell. He was drawn to it inexorably, like he was attached to a magnet. Winston's face was even more furrowed than normal, creased with worry and discontent. Jack rubbed the scar that crossed the bridge of his nose.

"Winston, can I trust you to be honest with me?"

Winston's eyes widened. He reared up to full height and pounded his chest once in a salute. "Commander, I will always be honest with you. I can't believe you'd have to ask."

Jack winced. _Commander_. He'd told Winston five times to stop calling him that, and he still disobeyed. 

"Am I being a fool, letting him live?"

Winston went down to all fours again and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "Well... we don't actually know if we have any way to _kill_ him, so..."

"You know what I mean."

Winston cleared his throat, looking away. "Honestly, Jack? I think you love him, more than any of the rest of us can ever really comprehend. And love makes us do stupid things sometimes."

"So you do think I'm being stupid," Jack said. Of course he was being stupid. He fingered his pulse rifle thoughtfully, but Winston quickly spoke up again.

"Maybe you are being a little stupid, but... but stupid is okay, in this case, I think."

Jack blinked and looked at him. "How can being stupid be okay?" he asked flatly

Winston shifted from foot to foot. "It was stupid of me to call in Overwatch--"

"Yes it was," Jack snapped. "You could have accidentally brought Talon down on all of you. Any one of them could have been undercover Talon agents."

"--But I don't regret it," Winston finished stubbornly. "The world needs Overwatch, and even though the world has rejected us, even though it's dangerous, even though it could have gone wrong, I believe it was the right thing to do."

Jack gazed into Winston's eyes. Despite everything, Winston still had that clear-eyed vision, that true _faith_ in the mission of Overwatch. Maybe it was naive, maybe it was because he truly had no one else in the world who cared about him and he was lonely here in this moldering and abandoned place, but Jack suspected there was more to it than that. And for some reason, Winston still believed in Jack, with exactly the same strength of conviction.

Jack looked away first, pursing his lips with discomfort and returning his gaze to the Talon agent in their cells.

"You really aren't angry with me for not telling you that I was alive," he said softly.

"Oh Commander, I'm _furious_ ," Winston said enthusiastically. "But I understand. You were hurting and scared. But you're back with us now, and that's really all that matters."

His head turned back to stare at Winston so quickly he nearly got a cramp. There were a thousand things wrong with what Winston had said, but the crowning glory was the gorilla's final conclusion. "You're going to let it go, just like that?"

Winston smiled, all teeth. "We're family."

_Family._

Jack realized eventually that he had been staring at Gabriel _again_. He blinked and groaned self-deprecatingly, rubbing his eyes with the heels of both hands. 

"He's your family, too," Winston murmured. "That's why it's okay to be a bit stupid when it comes to him."

"If we're too stupid when it comes to Reyes, we might all end up dying," Jack pointed out.

"Hopefully that's not how it's going to go."

 _Yeah, hopefully,_ Jack thought. 

They sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes, then Winston finally spoke up again. "So... Commander, are we really not going to take advantage of any of Reaper's intel on Talon?"

Jack grunted and got to his feet. Winston was right - time to stop woolgathering and get to work. "No, we're going to use it," he said. "Who do you have on standby?"

"Mercy, Tracer, and Mei are waiting for my call at any time," Winston said. "If you give me a few days, I can reach Ana, Torbjorn, and Reinhardt." He paused. "I might be able to find McCree, also. And...there are rumours about Genji, but I'm not sure how long it'll take to find him, or even if I can."

Jack nodded. "Call them all in. Every one of them."

Winston started. "All of them, sir? Even McCree and Genji?"

Jack understood Winston's hesitation about the two former Blackwatch agents. As the two who had worked most closely with Gabriel and Moira, they were the ones most likely to also be potential enemies or liabilities. 

He turned towards the door. "Yes, even McCree and Genji. I have some things to ask them." He paused in the doorway and looked back at Winston. "Get Angela here by tonight if you can. I need her."

"Yes, sir," Winston said, throwing up a salute. Then he climbed into his chair and began giving commands to Athena.

Jack strode out of the room. Time to interrogate his prisoner.

He stopped off at the store room and then went to Gabriel's cell. He unlocked the door and opened it, then stood in the doorway with his pulse rifle at the ready, looking Gabriel over like he was surprised to see him there.

"Well, well, still here I see."

Gabriel turned to him quickly the moment the door opened, tensed for a fight, but he relaxed when he saw Jack. He shrugged, raising his hands to shoulder height in that way he had, so familiar it made Jack's heart lurch. He grinned. "I decided I like it here."

"Glad to hear it." Jack took a step back and to the side, giving room for Gabriel to emerge. "Come on."

Gabriel stepped warily out of the cell, his head turning back and forth. "No monkey?"

"You think I need him?" Jack asked.

Gabriel turned a hesitant grin back towards him. "Not at all."

"Good." Jack jerked his head in the direction he wanted Gabriel to walk. "Go on. No funny business."

Gabriel's smile faltered and he turned to walk ahead of Jack towards the stairwell. "Where are we going? I assume I'm not being rehomed after all."

"Interrogation room three."

"Oh."

Of course, Gabriel knew where that was. Jack didn't have to give any further instructions, as they climbed the stairs and headed into the small room. There was nothing in the room but a table and two chairs, a two-way mirror mounted on the wall. Gabriel sat down in one chair, leaning back with apparent ease, but Jack saw from the tightness around his eyes that the relaxation was a sham.

Good. He didn't want Gabriel to know what to expect. If he could keep him off balance, make him think that Jack was proof against his charms, Jack could keep himself from falling all over himself just to see that smile. Hopefully.

Jack sat across from Gabriel. He slung his pulse rifle behind his chair, well out of the way, and reached into his jacket. Gabriel tensed as he grabbed what was in there, and pulled it out.

He tossed the books onto the table between them. Two romance novels. Both of them depicting women with horses on the covers.

Gabriel stared at them. "What the hell?"

"They're probably Tracer's," Jack said calmly. "I figured you might want some reading matter during your incarceration."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I don't like that trash, Jack. What do you take me for - a teenaged girl?" But he put a hand on the small stack of books and dragged them closer to his side of the table, then folded his arms across his chest.

Jack smirked. "I'll get you more." Gabriel scowled at him.

Jack allowed the moment to last for another beat, then he leaned forward. "All right, Gabriel, tell me everything you know."

Gabriel sobered. He drew a breath and began to speak.

Four hours later, the communicator in Jack's pocket buzzed. Gabriel was showing distinct signs of exhaustion, though it wasn't manifesting in a totally normal, human way. His voice was still as strong as it had been at the beginning of the interrogation, and he wasn't sagging. His eyes weren't showing any signs of drooping. Jack might have thought that he could just keep going forever, except for the fact that his voice had slowed, and he was beginning to repeat himself. 

He got to his feet and picked up his rifle. Gabriel trailed off, staring up at him with confusion in his eyes.

"We're done for today," Jack said. "Come on, we have an appointment."

Gabriel frowned and got to his feet, tucking the books protectively under his arm. "What kind of appointment?"

Jack opened the door and gestured for Gabriel to proceed him again. "We’re going to level three, west wing."

Gabriel balked in the doorway. "That's the medical wing."

"Your memory's really good, now."

That earned Jack a dirty look, which he absorbed without allowing his own expression to change. After a brief battle of wills, Gabriel turned away first and led the way obediently.

Jack could tell, though, that he was reluctant. His steps dragged, and it had nothing to do with how tired Gabriel was. At one point, as the door to the medical wing loomed in front of them, Gabriel almost stopped. Only the muzzle of the pulse rifle prodding him in the back urged him forward again.

Jack said nothing to encourage him or to dispel his fears, whatever they were. Frankly, Jack wasn't entirely certain what Reaper was in for, either.

The door opened onto a brightly-lit medical bay. Angela Zeigler, also known as Mercy, emerged from behind a curtain and stood, her expression solemn and her eyes moving up and down Gabriel from feet to head. She wore a white lab coat over pale blue scrubs, eschewing her combat gear.

"Good evening, Mr. Reyes," she said in her calm, musical voice. From her expression, one might think nothing was wrong, if one discounted the remote, clinical way she looked at him. She tugged the curtain back to reveal an examination table, clean and white. "If you would get on the table, please." 

"You want me to take my clothes off, doc?" Gabriel asked. He half-turned away from her, his eyes flicking to Jack as if for some indication of permission, or command, but Jack schooled his expression to neutrality. 

"That's not necessary at the moment," Angela said.

Jack saw Gabriel's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, and then he stepped closer. He climbed onto the table and stretched out on his back, watching Angela like she might produce a scalpel and start cutting him open. "What's this all about?" he asked, his voice tight.

"I've asked Dr. Zeigler to try and find out what Moira did to you, Gabe," Jack said. "See if we can reverse it."

"What?" Gabriel tensed, pushing up on his elbows. "I don't want any tests, Jack," he said, his voice rising. "And I..." He trailed off, his lips pale, and looked from Jack to Angela and back.

"You don't want to lose the powers she gave you?" Jack finished coldly.

Gabriel shook his head as if to contradict Jack's accusation, but said nothing, his eyes downcast. 

Angela gently pushed Gabriel back down, a firm hand on his shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said. "I understand that Moira used a drug to suppress your memories. What can you tell me about it?"

"Not much," Gabriel said. "It was a pill - small, purple and round, no stamp or logo. I tore the place apart looking for more, but never found any."

"Is it possible she ordered them from a supplier?"

"Doubt it. She had a pill press in her lab."

Jack sat down in a chair, resting his rifle across his lap, and watched Angela take Gabriel's vitals. She asked him questions about the procedures that Moira had used on him, in her calm, quiet way, but he saw her hands tremble at times as she examined him. This had to be almost as difficult for her as it was for Jack, to see Gabriel like this, to know what he had done, and what he had gone through.

They were all grieving him all over again, and yet he was right there.

As for Gabriel, he was clearly terrified. Jack wanted so badly to try to reassure him. All of his instincts told him to get up and move to Gabriel, touch him, but he forced himself to stay rooted in the chair. Gabriel was _safe_ , and there was no reason to believe that Jack's presence would even reassure him. He had spent the last four hours breaking Gabriel down, after all.

"Do you feel any desire to take the medication? Any side effects from withdrawal?"

"No and no. I just got my memories back over a few days once I stopped taking them."

"Hmm." 

Angela took a few vials of blood. Gabriel appeared to be relaxing after all, his body pliant under Angela's touch. Despite his fear, he hadn't done anything to resist her since lying down on the table, and he didn't flinch when she inserted the needle. He was even joking a little, smiling at Angela in a way he would have done years ago, and Jack saw Angela beginning to smile in return despite herself.

But when Angela turned away to label her vials, Gabriel turned his head away and swallowed visibly, betraying his true feelings. 

Finally, Angela turned to Jack. "I'm finished my examination for now," she said. "I want to test these samples before they degrade and see if there’s any trace of the drug still in his system. I’ll let you know what I come up with."

Jack got to his feet. "Thank you doctor. Come on, Gabe."

"Don't be a stranger, Angela," Gabriel said, rising from the examination table and rolling his sleeve down.

As they turned to leave, Gabriel in the lead, Angela called Jack back. He went to her, and they put their heads together. "Jack," she whispered, her voice raw with emotion. "My god, I've never seen anything like this."

"Can you help him?" 

She blinked rapidly and looked away. "I don't even know if he's _alive_. I might kill him if I try."

He put a hand on her shoulder, which trembled slightly. "Do your best, Angela. If anyone can save him, you can."

She nodded, turning away so Gabriel wouldn't see as she fought to regain her composure. Jack left her to that, putting the bulk of his body between Gabriel and her as he strode towards the door. Gabriel was looking back at them both, his brows furrowed with uncertainty.

"What are you looking at?" Jack said roughly, knowing that Angela wouldn't want Reaper to see her cry. "Get a move on."

"Fine, jeez," Gabriel muttered, pushing through the door. "What did she say?"

"If she wanted you to know, she'd have said it loud enough for you to hear."

Jack didn't want Gabriel to know that Mercy was doubtful of her ability to help him. He didn't want him to give up hope. He wanted Gabriel to fight to heal, not surrender to the Reaper for any reason. But the look on Gabriel's face nearly made him change his mind. Something closed in Gabriel's eyes, and he said nothing further all the way back to his cell.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy shiiiiit there's finally smut in this chapter!

Jack didn't have the brain power to consider what to do about Gabriel's reactions to Angela's examination, and he decided to put the whole thing away for the night and think about it later. The interrogation might have taken a lot out of Gabriel, but Jack was just as wiped, and by the time he closed the door of Gabriel's cell he knew he was running solely on fumes and stubbornness.

He went to his own room, undressed, and collapsed onto the bed. The room had been his a lifetime ago, reserved for his use whenever he traveled to this particular Watchpoint. Even stripped of all personalizing touches, it was familiar and comforting. The sheets were cool and the mattress still had all the same lumps it always had. He fell asleep almost instantly.

Then, a whisper as of fabric over stone had him awake, his heart pounding and his mind buzzing with the rush of adrenaline despite his exhaustion. There was no question in his mind of what had wakened him. Gabriel had broken out of his cell again, and was in his room.

On some level, he had expected this - when Gabriel turned, he would come for Jack. 

He grabbed the handgun he had secreted under his pillow and shot twice into the bulk of the monster sweeping over the bed towards him. The bullets sailed harmlessly right through Reaper, though, and buried themselves into the far wall. 

Reaper solidified and knocked the gun out of his hand. He grabbed Jack's arms and pinned him down. "Ath--" Jack began to yell, and Reaper covered his mouth with his hand. That meant that Jack had one hand free, and he punched as hard as he could, slamming his fist into Reaper's shoulder and eliciting a pained grunt.

"Stop! Stop, goddamn hitting me, damnit!" Gabriel whispered. "Please, Jack, I'll let you go if you promise not to scream."

Okay, so maybe Gabriel wasn't here to kill him after all. At least, not yet. Jack glared at him, but nodded fractionally to signal that he wouldn't yell for Athena. Gabriel drew his hand away from Jack's mouth and released his hold on him, sitting back on the bed. 

Jack sat up. "What the fuck are you doing in my room?" he hissed angrily. He was livid. How many ways could he come up with to tell Gabriel that he was expected to stay in his fucking cell?

"I'm sorry," Gabriel said. "I know what you want, I just. I can't sleep."

"I know you can't sleep," Jack said, irritable.

Gabriel shook his head. He drew away, turning away from Jack to sit on the edge of the bed, bare taloned feet on the floor. "I didn't mean to wake you," he said. He hunched over, his face buried in his hands. "I just thought I could stay here with you while you were asleep, just for a couple of hours. I thought you wouldn't know."

Jack sat up, seeing the tortured lines of Gabriel's body and fearing that all of his was just a manipulation. "What difference does it make if you're here instead of there?"

Gabriel drew a breath and let it out, then looked up. For the first time, Jack really got a good look at Gabriel's face. His eyes were hollowed out, like they were sunken into his skull. He was pale and drawn, the familiar pattern of his scars standing out starkly. Jack had never seen him look so miserable.

"I want to go," Gabriel whispered. "When I'm sitting in that cell, thinking about how you all hate me so much, and how much of a monster I am, I want to go back. I think about how easy it would be to forget again. I wouldn't have to feel any of this, anymore. She'd forgive me, if I went back to Her willingly." He swallowed. "But Jack, I _don't_ want to go back there. I don't want to be Reaper. Please... I know you don't care about me anymore. But I don't want to disappoint you again. _Please_ just let me stay, just for a little. Just until I'm stronger."

And for the first time in all the years they had known each other, Jack watched as Gabriel broke down and started to cry.

It wasn't an attractive look on him. He bent over, making a soft mewling noise of misery like a child, as tears rolled down his cheeks. He shook and shuddered and made quiet, racking, torturous noises. Before Jack had even consciously grasped what was happening, he had pulled back the covers and wrapped his arms around Gabriel from behind. 

"Shh, Gabe. My god. You can stay." 

He pressed his cheek to Gabriel's back, feeling the shudders rising and then slowly beginning to calm under Jack's embrace. Still, Jack didn't hear a hint of a heartbeat. 

Jack held him and made quiet reassuring nonsense sounds until the sobs eased and Gabriel quieted. Then, the two men slowly shifted back on the bed. Jack drew Gabriel down with him onto the mattress, and tugged the blanket back over them both. Gabriel tucked his head under Jack's chin and curled his fingers against Jack's chest.

"I'm sorry," Gabriel said.

"Don't be," Jack said. He let out a long breath. "It's...understandable."

And horrible. Gabriel talked like an addict and a victim of abuse, which made perfect sense. Jack had meant to push him, to make him stand on his own feet and prove his loyalty, but Gabriel was more fragile than he had allowed himself to believe. The old Gabriel would have fought Jack tooth and nail and stayed out of pure stubbornness if for no other reason, but this new Gabriel was someone Jack didn't know so well.

Worse in some ways was how Jack's heart hurt at the accusation that he didn't care. 

But the most chilling part was the admission that Gabriel had thought it through far enough to conclude that Moira would take him back if he went.

Gabriel was balanced on the edge of a knife, and it seemed like the only thing drawing him onto the right side of that balance point was Jack himself. It wasn't a responsibility that he wanted. He had actively tried to distance himself, but Gabriel had still come crawling in like a desperate, starving dog, believing he would be kicked and abused, but loving his master anyway.

Jack opened his mouth to reassure him, to tell him that he didn't hate him, but the image of Gabriel from only scant days ago, grinning and excited and covered in blood, flashed in front of his eyes. He could still hear the screams of those two cyborgs in his ears. More, though Angela had administered the Caduceus after her arrival, Jack himself was still carrying the fresh memory of the bruises and cuts so recently inflicted by Gabriel himself. 

He closed his mouth again, the sentiment unvoiced. 

"I promise I won't do this again," Gabriel said softly, but Jack could tell he was lying. Perhaps he didn't know if he would need to do it again, and as Jack thought about that, the prospect that he _wouldn't_ come in the dead of night - and instead go back to Talon, perhaps with gifts to curry Moira's favour - loomed large.

"No, it's all right," Jack said. "If this is what you need, then... it's fine."

Gabriel swallowed audibly. "Thanks... thank you, Jack." His voice was still fragile. Trembling. 

Jack pressed his lips softly to Gabriel's temple before he realized what he was doing, his heart sick at the sound.

With a soft sigh, Gabriel lifted his head and pressed his lips to Jack's. His lips were salty and wet with tears, but he tasted sweet. Jack sank into it without hesitation, scarcely even considering the wisdom of it. The thought of pulling away was unbearable.

Gabriel's arms wrapped around him and he deepened the kiss with a groan, opening his mouth to Jack's tongue. Jack took the invitation eagerly, their bodies pressed close together from chest to hips. He explored Gabriel's mouth, and Gabriel submitted to it hungrily, his hands roaming Jack's bare back as Jack plundered his mouth.

The sharp teeth were fine, scarcely a distraction, and when Gabriel's claws scraped his skin it made Jack groan with desire for more. 

Gabriel shifted and pressed his groin to Jack's thigh, the hot bar of his erection noticeable through his pants. Jack reached for him reflexively, pressing his palm to his cock and rubbing him through his clothes.

"Please," Gabriel moaned around Jack's tongue in his mouth, an almost incoherent noise of pleading rather than a word. 

Jack broke the kiss. He was flushed with heat and panting. He didn't know if Reaper had had other lovers, though it seemed unlikely. For Jack, though, it had been years since he had anything other than his own right hand for companionship, and it was almost painful to hold back even a few moments. "Get your clothes off," he ordered, and Gabriel complied.

"Jack," Gabriel whispered, the word thick with hunger as he skinned out of his pants and pulled his shirt off, discarding both onto the floor. "I'll-- god, I need you so much. I'll do whatever you want." 

He scooted closer and reached for Jack's erection, eyes alight with desire, but Jack caught his wrist and held him back. Though he wanted badly to be touched, he was hesitant to allow it. Claws scoring lines on his back were one thing, but he wasn't yet sure about how it would feel otherwise, or if Gabriel really understood right now how easily he could cause Jack pain. More importantly, Jack was worried that Gabriel’s intentions weren’t entirely pure. He might be doing this just to please Jack.

But that didn't mean he couldn't give Gabriel some pleasure and intimacy, if only for a while. "Just relax," Jack said gruffly. "Lie back."

Jack caught a glimpse of pain and uncertainty in Gabriel's eyes, but he laid down obediently. Jack shifted closer and kissed him again, hoping that what he thought he had seen had been his imagination. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt the other man right now, but as they kissed, Gabriel seemed to relax.

Jack curled his fingers around Gabriel's erection and Gabriel gasped, squirming even at that light touch. "Shh, calm down," Jack shushed him gently, trying to reassure him, and he stilled. They kissed sweetly as Jack stroked him, listening to his soft groans and gasps and amused that for some reason Gabriel seemed to be trying to keep quiet, but was unable to fully hold back his reactions.

It was gratifying, actually, the way Gabriel bit his own lip to ribbons trying not to yell, as Jack pleasured him beyond what he could clearly handle without crying out.

Finally, Gabriel arched and gasped, his cock jerking in Jack's hand. Ropes of sticky fluid painted Gabriel's chest and stomach and he shuddered as the pleasure overwhelmed him. 

As he came down, gasping for breath - he claimed not to need to breathe, yet in coitus, his reactions seemed at least on the surface to be all too human - he turned and buried his face against Jack's chest. He clung to him, claws digging into Jack's arm, and struggled to catch his breath. 

"I'm yours, Jack," Gabriel murmured. "Not Hers. Yours."

Jack winced inwardly, the words reminding him of those early hours with Reaper, when he had demanded that Jack agree that he belonged to him. Maybe that was just how Gabriel had to think of it right now, but it didn't sit well with him. 

But if it kept Gabriel out of Moira's claws, if it kept his best friend safe, he would go with it.

"Yeah," he murmured, stroking Gabriel's back. 

"And you won't leave me?"

Jack drew a breath and let it out. "No, Gabe," he assured him. "I won't."

The tension still thrumming through Gabriel's body eased. He let out a long breath, ragged and shaky. "Okay," he said. "Okay, I can handle this."

Jack kissed him, not knowing what else to do. Watching Gabriel was like watching someone fight a war, and all he could do was sit on the sidelines and hold him while he did it. Gabriel shuddered again and kissed him back with the desperation of a drowning man holding onto a life preserver. Then he settled again, cheek pressed against Jack's chest.

"Do you... want anything?" Gabriel asked. 

The truth was, Jack would have loved to have Gabriel's hands all over him, claws and all, but with so much emotion, so much pain charging the room, he didn't feel right asking for anything. He shook his head and smiled wryly. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

He couldn't see Gabriel's face, with the other man's head tucked under his chin. Gabriel's arms tightened in a squeeze, and he nodded. "Okay. Whatever you want."

"I don't need anything from you right now, Gabe," Jack assured him. "I just want you to get better."

"I'll try," Gabriel said, but he sounded so desolate that Jack had to close his eyes against the pain that stabbed through him. He sighed and rubbed Gabriel's back, wishing he knew how to take all of that agony away and make him the man he had been before. 

They lay together, entwined while Jack drowsed. Nestled next to the man he had once trusted more than any other person on the planet, he slept better than he had in years. Eventually, the sun began to warm the windows, and he swam upwards through the layers of sleep. At some point, he consciously realized that dawn had come, and he forced himself to come out of that pleasant doze and open his eyes. "Gabriel?"

"Mmhm?" Gabriel sounded as awake as ever, though he hadn't moved a muscle all that time. 

Jack cleared his throat. "You ah. It's probably best if you..."

"Sure, of course. Back to my cell." Gabriel released his hold on Jack and got up, and Jack felt cold without the warm, gentle arms of the other man around him. He watched Gabriel dress, enjoying the sight of him limned in the early dawn light and wishing he could call him back to bed. 

"I'll be by later," Jack said, knowing he wouldn't be able to stay away even if he wanted to. "I have to see if some of the others have arrived yet, and if Angela's made any progress. Once we see how many former agents answer the call, we can start planning our next op based on the intel you've given us."

"Okay." Gabriel pulled his shirt over his head and down, then glanced at him sidelong. He smiled vaguely. "See you soon, Jack."

Then he faded to mist, and flowed out through the vent overhead. 

Jack lay back on the bed and rubbed the scar across his nose. Last night had been...painful, difficult, and confusing, to say the least, but in all of that he had found some hope. All of the pain he was going through meant that Gabriel _was_ getting better, and perhaps one day it really would be possible for things to be normal again. 

He got up and headed for the shower, a spring in his step for the first time in years.


	14. Chapter 14

Gabriel left Jack behind and made his way back to his cell. The cell door had a small window in it, heavily barred with cross-hatches of wire embedded in the bullet-proof glass, but still possible to see through. It hadn't been hard to get out the door by teleporting into the hallway using that line of sight, and then use his wraith form to get through the ducts to Jack's room.

It was equally easy to get back inside the cell now. As he reformed in the middle of the room, he took a maudlin look around, and sat down on the bed.

He couldn't decide how to feel about the last twenty-four hours, but at least in the light of day he felt somewhat more like himself. Last night, things had gotten...dark. He was grateful that seeing Jack, touching and talking to him, had brought back some perspective.

He only wished that Jack wanted him, too.

Back at Talon, Gabriel had certainly understood Jack's antipathy towards him, his unwillingness to make any gesture towards the connection they'd once shared. It was Jack all over to reject Gabriel so long as Jack was still his prisoner, even if Gabriel was on his side. Gabriel also couldn't blame him for doubting that this change was real or permanent.

But he had thought when they left and returned to Jack's turf that his lover would unbend. He hadn't _expected_ that Jack would just turn back the clock and everything would be back to the way it was, but he also hadn't expected Jack to treat him like a hostile stranger.

After the way Jack had treated him all day, Gabriel had known when he initiated the kiss with Jack that it was a dumb thing to do. He had expected the other man to reject him, push him away, and when he hadn't, Gabriel had allowed himself to relax and hope. 

Only later, when Jack still didn't want him back, had he realized that Jack was just being kind. He had indeed been telling the truth back then when he'd said he couldn't love what Gabriel was now. It was obvious that Jack didn't love him - he just didn't want Gabriel to go back to Talon, and he was willing to give him a handjob if it kept him close.

Gabriel couldn't blame him one bit for feeling that way, but it was still a hard pill to swallow.

Well, Gabriel was a big boy. In those late nights, when things got bad, he would go to Jack because he _knew_ it would be better than being alone. And Jack would be kind. And Gabriel would live with the knowledge that even that paltry kindness was more than he deserved. 

He would have to. The alternative was not to be contemplated, and he'd already contemplated it more than enough.

He reached under his pillow and pulled out one of the books Jack had given to him. He'd read some of it, but he was taking his time, savouring it. There was no telling when he'd get another one, and he wasn't about to beg for more. 

He'd scarcely read another five pages when he heard a clang as the lock disengaged. The sound had him quickly stuffing the book back under his pillow. He stood, hoping to see Jack, but expecting Angela. She might have more tests to run on him, or maybe he was actually going to find out what she had discovered about him, directly from her. The thought of more tests made his stomach clench, even though he knew Angela was definitely not Her, but he knew he'd do as he was told.

The door opened. It wasn't Angela.

The scent of a lit cigar proceeded the younger man as he stepped into the room, spurs jingling with each step. Jesse McCree looked down as he stepped over the threshold, then tilted his head up to meet Gabriel's gaze, pushing the brim of his hat up an inch so Gabriel could see his eyes unobstructed.

"Jesse..." Gabriel said, then fell silent. The last thing he'd expected was to see one of his old subordinates, especially so soon, and the shock was a physical weight, stealing his breath and any ability to talk.

Jesse stared at him for a long moment, then removed the cigar from his mouth. Gabriel thought he was about to say something, but he just bent his head and spat on the floor at Gabriel's feet.

Then he turned to leave.

Gabriel somehow recovered from his surprise enough to take a step forward. "Jesse!"

Jesse stopped, one foot in the hallway, and glanced at him over his shoulder. "Don't think you can fuckin' talk to me Reyes, or whoever you are."

Gabriel just stood there as Jesse walked out and shut the door, leaving only a small puddle of spit gleaming on the polished metal floor and devastation in his wake. 

Gabriel sat down on the bed again and rubbed a hand over his face, closing his eyes. Intellectually, he knew each and every one of his former comrades would be various shades of angry. Jesse, in particular, had never had a filter. The younger man had been one of Gabriel’s closest subordinates once, both a comrade in arms and a friend, and Gabriel had utterly betrayed that in every possible way - at least in Jesse's eyes. It shouldn't have surprised him at all how he reacted. But time after time, a part of Gabriel hoped and wished that someone would give him a break.

How much blame really rested on his shoulders? He vacillated wildly between extremes, sometimes feeling as though he was completely responsible for every death, and other times feeling as though he couldn't be blamed.

Sitting in this room, he didn't know if he'd ever come to a decision, but sitting in this room was all he could do for now.

~ ~ ~

Jack reached the bottom of the stairwell on the detention level in time to hear the bang of a cell door closing just down the hall. _What the hell?_ he thought, his heart going into overdrive. Who was in Gabriel's cell?

He lengthened his steps, pushing through the door into the hallway, and stopped short at the sight of Jesse McCree. 

"McCree!" he said, startled. "I didn't know you were here."

Jesse had a wooden look on his face, and it didn't lighten when he looked up to see Jack. "Didn't know you were alive," he said, and took the cigar from between his lips. "Guess we're both surprised today."

Jack felt a pulse of vague guilt at that. He'd already had to go through seeing Winston's mixture of excitement and anger at the revelation, but dealing with Gabriel's unconscious body had been a distraction at the time, so there had been no real confrontation. 

As for Angela, she had hugged him rib-crackingly tight before returning to total and perfect professionalism. He knew that meant she was grateful he was alive, and pissed as hell, but she would deal with it in her own way, and he likely wouldn't ever hear a word about it.

Now he was subjected to the full force of Jesse's scowl, and he couldn't be sure he didn't deserve it.

He wasn't going to apologize, though. He had done what he felt he needed to do, and if Jesse wanted to know why, he could ask.

"Is he still in there?" he asked, gesturing to the cell. _Please let him be in there._

"He is," Jesse said, sticking his cigar back between his teeth. 

Jack arched a brow. "Is he alive?"

"Still up and kickin'," Jesse said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Didn't know what I was gonna see when I went in there." He returned his gaze to Jack, and for the first time his stony mask cracked, a frisson of pain and confusion flowing over his face. "He looked just the same."

"He's not," Jack said, rubbing the scar that crossed his nose. "Then again, are any of us?" He gestured to the other man to follow him, and Jesse fell into step with him as they headed back upstairs. 

"How'd he get here?" Jesse asked. "He's been in Talon all this time, is all Winston really told me, and that you captured him."

"That's... accurate, but not the full story," Jack said. "McCree, you remember your mission to Venice, when Gabriel killed Antonio? As I recall, you were surprised by his behaviour that day."

"I sure was," Jesse agreed. "It set me right back on my ass, I told you so back then."

"Was there any reason to believe that Moira was influencing him at that time?"

Jesse stilled, actually missing a step on the stairs and having to grab for the railing to keep from face planting. He stood where he was for a moment, then moved quickly to catch up with him. "Moira didn't say anything while we were in Antonio's office," he said thoughtfully. "If you're askin' if she goaded him into killing that snake, there wasn't a word said in that direction in front of me. It seemed like Reyes decided to do it about a second before he pulled the trigger."

He drew a breath, and let it out. "But while we were gettin' out, I did hear her ask him something about side effects, and now that I think about it, it was about then that she was helpin' him with some problems from the soldier program. I never thought about it, then. She gave us all medical care, even off the field. Reyes and Genji more than me - I was always healthy as a horse."

Now it was Jack's turn to stop and stare, which gave Jesse time to catch up. "What problems from the soldier program?"

Jesse cocked his head. "You didn't know about that? They said she was testin' somethin' about the program you two went through, and he was startin' to feel it wear off. I think she did somethin' to try to bolster it, and it was around then that he started to do that fade thing, like her." He shifted from foot to foot, brows furrowing. "I thought it was on the up and up. Never occurred to me that you didn't know."

"That was a lie," Jack said softly. "I've never experienced a problem with the effects of the supersoldier program, and I don't believe Gabriel ever did, either. Moira was experimenting on him, and they told you a lie to cover for it."

Jesse took off his hat and combed his fingers through his hair, then settled the hat on his head again. "I'm sorry, fuck. I never thought... if I'd said somethin' to you about it at the time..."

"Jesse, stop." They had reached their landing. Jack paused and turned to the younger man. "None of this is your fault. You want to play the 'should have known' game? I'd known Gabriel for over thirty years at that time, and when he began to pull away from me and behave strangely, it didn't occur to me that someone might be hurting him."

Jesse looked down at the floor while Jack spoke. At this last, he looked up, the corners of his mouth pulled down and his brows pinched. "Is that what happened?"

"I believe so," Jack said softly. "Gabriel was being drugged by Moira. I don't know when it began."

"Was it before everything went bad?" Jesse's tone was downright mournful, and Jack could relate. If Gabriel had been brainwashed long before Overwatch fell, they could all spend time feeling guilty for not having noticed, but it might mean that Gabriel hadn't betrayed them at all.

Jack sighed. "I wish I knew for sure. When Gabriel first captured me a week ago, there seemed to be no trace of the man we knew. He claimed to have murdered Gabriel Reyes, and had no memory of being him. But after he came off the drugs Moira had put him on, he seemed to remember everything, and come back to himself."

Jesse brightened, then his brows furrowed suspiciously. "What do you mean 'seemed to'?"

Jack's lips twisted and he spread his hands. "I want to believe this is genuine," he said. "But I can't know for sure, not yet."

Jesse glanced back the way they had come, puffing on his cigar thoughtfully. Jack wrinkled his nose at the acrid smell, but said nothing. "Could be it's a trick to get close to us all."

"Could be."

"What're we gonna do?" Jesse's gaze rested squarely on Jack, and he flinched inwardly. Once again, despite everything, he was confronted by the fact that they expected him to lead. He had fallen into that role naturally, yet a part of him rebelled against it. He had worked as a mercenary, hiding his identity, for years. Why was it so easy for them to forgive him?

"What do you think we should do?" he asked, tossing it back in Jesse's court. The younger man's eyes widened, startled by the question, but to his credit he gave it some thought.

About three seconds of thought.

"I think we let him think it's workin' no matter what, and hit Talon as hard as we can. Hit 'em where it hurts, and keep Reyes busy, so he don't know we've done it. Then we pick up the pieces later when he finds out we did it."

Jack cocked his head. "What do you mean 'keep him busy'?"

"I mean don't let him rot in a cell thinkin' too much. If he's Gabriel Reyes, one thing we know for sure is he'll get in his own head," Jesse said. Jack must have allowed something to show in his face, because Jesse smirked. "Gotta feeling you already know what I mean."

He didn't know they'd slept together, right? No reason for him to know. Jack grunted and gave a curt nod. "We both know him well. So what do you suggest?"

Jesse shrugged. "A mission, maybe. Make him feel useful."

Jack stared. "Are you crazy? We can't just send him on a mission. It's bad enough he can get out of that cell any time he wants. If he leaves this facility, and he _is_ a Talon agent, then he'll definitely contact them."

"Not on his own, and we do it careful like," Jesse said. "Maybe monitor him somehow, some way he won't know. And under observation - someone he'll relax with, so we can see what he does when given more play on his leash."

Jack fell silent, folding his arms across his chest. Jesse had a point, he was _right_ , but it was a huge risk. There was really only one way it could work, too. "A mission with me," he said softly. "He'll relax if it's just the two of us."

"Really? I was thinkin' I would be the best--"

"No, Jesse." Jack dismissed the idea instantly. He understood why Jesse would have assumed as much. "You were one of his Agents, and normally I'd agree that you'd be the best person for the job. It would normalize things for him. But I've known him longer. More importantly..." He paused, and cleared his throat. "Since what happened the last few days, he seems to have fixated on me."

Jesse stared at him. "What do you mean 'fixated'?"

Jack didn't want to get into specifics. He hesitated, then said delicately, "He wants me to forgive him. He wants things to be the way they once were, before." He squared his shoulders and reached for the door. "I'll speak to Angela. Thank you for your input."

Jesse watched him go, tugging on the brim of his hat. "Ah... any time, Commander."

"Call me Jack," Jack growled, but not too loudly.


	15. Chapter 15

Gabriel sat on his bed in his cell, reading his book, but he just kept moving his eyes across the same page over and over without absorbing any of the plot. Eventually, he abandoned the attempt and stuffed the book back under his pillow. He lay on his back, staring up at the featureless ceiling above as the future stretched out endlessly before him. 

What if he just...left? Avoided Talon, or at least anywhere that She might be, and just tried to do some good on his own. He'd be hunted by both Talon and Overwatch, but Gabriel was a hunter himself. He could hunt the members of Talon down, one by one, as he had once hunted the former agents of Overwatch, until there was nothing left. He _could_ do it. Put the way She had twisted him to good use.

He scarcely dared to follow that line of thought to the final conclusion - which was that maybe, once he had done that, he would have proven himself sufficiently that he would be welcomed back instead of facing this endless parade of angry people who had once been his sisters and brothers.

The door unlocked and opened. Gabriel rolled to his feet and stood frozen as, this time, Angela did walk through the door.

Jack hovered just outside the cell like a protective mama bear. Gabriel wanted to look at him, to see if there was any difference in his eyes now than there had been yesterday, after the night they'd spent together, but his world was taken up by the slight woman in the lab coat standing in front of him. Scarcely anything mattered but what she was going to say next.

"How are you feeling today, Mr. Reyes?" she asked.

He grinned, and it felt like the death rictus of a dried-out corpse left too long in the sun. "Doing great, Angela. Couldn't be better."

She smiled thinly. "I'm pleased to hear it. I have a couple more tests I'd like to run, if you don't mind coming with us?"

Of course she did. He nodded, the grin faltering despite his best efforts. _Did you find out anything yesterday?_ his mind screamed at him to say. _Am I safe to be around?_

But equally strong was Her whisper in his ear. _Don't fret. I'll take care of everything, my dear creation. If there were anything you needed to know, I would tell you._

"Sure," he said. "No problem."

Angela's own smile faltered and vanished, and as she turned away he caught a glimpse of worry in her eyes. She looked at Jack, but Jack was looking at Gabriel with a neutral expression. Without a word or any indication as to his thoughts, Jack moved out of the way to allow both of them to come out of the cell. Gabriel followed the doctor, and Jack fell in behind them, and Gabriel's tongue felt stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"Steady, Gabe," Jack murmured, startling him. There _was_ a warmth to his voice that hadn't been there yesterday, at least not before Gabriel had shown up in his bedroom. Maybe it wasn't real, but why pretend? Only to keep Gabriel from cutting and running - which Jack had to think was a possibility.

"I'm all right, Jack," he assured the other man. 

Angela glanced over her shoulder, a reassuring smile on her lips, as she pushed open the door to the infirmary. "You have nothing to be concerned about, Mr. Reyes. These are practically routine procedures, and are completely safe." She moved to the nearest bed and patted it lightly. "Up you get."

"I'm not concerned, why would I be?" Gabriel lied. 

It wasn't that he thought Angela would do anything bad to him. He couldn't even have articulated why the last place in the world he wanted to be was on that table, because he _knew_ Angela would cut off her own hands before she would hurt any patient of hers. Even an enemy. But it didn't matter what he knew, there was a visceral fear that coursed through him nonetheless.

He boosted himself up onto the bed and laid down anyway. If there was one thing he knew how to do these days, it was listen to his doctor and do what he was told.

The next half hour passed slowly. Angela didn't have as many questions for him as last time, and Gabriel asked no substantive questions at all. He felt like his spirit had risen out of his body, and was watching him from a distance. He chatted about inconsequential things, joking and reminiscing while Angela tried to smile through it. He knew it had to be painful for her to hear him talk about the past, but he couldn't seem to stop. He didn't dare ask Angela what she had been doing for the past seven years, and he didn't want to talk about his own activities during that time if he didn't have to.

Finally, Angela prepared a syringe. "This is a broad spectrum antiviral," she said. "I don't know if it'll help your condition in any way, but it can't hurt, and if you show any effects from it, that might tell us something. Can you roll up your sleeve, please?" He obeyed on automatic, rolling up his sleeve to bare his right arm. She stuck the needle into the muscle and depressed the plunger.

Then she looked at Jack. "I'm all done. You can go, Gabriel."

Startled by the use of his first name - she'd been overly formal since yesterday, not like her, and he wasn't sure what it might mean - he sat up so fast that they almost collided heads. Angela retreated a few steps, holding the spent syringe cupped in her hands protectively, then quickly turned and put it into the sharps disposal. 

"Thanks, doc," Gabriel said, rubbing the injection site, which felt a bit cold. He rolled his sleeve down, looking to Jack, who rose from his chair.

"Good, thank you Angela. Come on, Gabriel. We're headed to the situation room."

Gabriel had started for the door already, anticipating that he'd be taking the lead and prodded - perhaps back to the interrogation room. He checked, shooting a look at Jack, then swallowed and headed out the door. "Who am I briefing?" Jesse was already here at the Watchpoint, he knew that. Who else? Who was he going to be giving information to in the context of mission planning?

What shocked him the most was that Jack would trust him to know anything about a mission that Overwatch was about to run right now. Wouldn't it be more usual for Jack to brief them, from the information that Gabriel had supplied?

"No one," Jack said, confusing him even more.

He fell silent, realizing from the smirk on Jack's lips that he wasn't going to get a better answer, and led the way to a boardroom on the top level. The room had a panoramic view of the Gibraltar watchpoint - at least, the portions that were visible from this part of the island - and the water. Iron grey clouds leaned over the building, the water shrouded in fog. The sun was a vague disk locked behind the clouds high up in the sky. 

As Jack had implied, the room was empty. Gabriel sat down in his usual seat at the table, close to the blackboard, which was covered in notes.

He might not have bothered to scrutinize those notes, but a couple of familiar names written on the blackboard caught his attention. He turned to look again and saw several things that he had told Jack about the day before, alongside some other details that he hadn't thought to mention, or hadn't been asked about.

The notes began to resolve themselves into a pattern, Gabriel's mind easily slipping into the habit of interpreting the way that Overwatch had planned out missions. It was different from what he was used to from Talon. In most cases, he had been basically pointed at a target and told the objective, and left to his own devices. The exception had been missions like the one with Sombra and Widowmaker to Russia, but even then, the shorthand had been different. 

Seeing how Jack outlined a mission was like putting on an old pair of slippers. Sure, maybe they didn't fit his feet just the way they had before, but they were still warm and comfortable.

It seemed like Overwatch was planning a mission to hit a Talon outpost in Simikot, Nepal. It was a remote location, poorly staffed, but highly strategic, positioned to send strike teams into China or India, or to even strike directly at the Shambali monks. It was slowly developing in importance since the assassination of Tekhartha Mondatta in King's Row, as Talon intended to eventually disrupt the entire religion - a goal that likely would destabilize the Omnics in the region and lead to war, if done correctly. 

The only reason anyone would have known about it was from inside information - Gabriel's information had to have been invaluable in planning this mission. He could see its importance immediately, as well as the fact that - according to the notes - Jack had planned it to be a two- or three-man job.

Jack seated himself across from Gabriel, saying nothing. Gabriel finished perusing the board and then turned back to his former friend. "So? Who's going to Nepal?"

"You are." 

Gabriel stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, long enough that Jack continued. "This is your chance, Gabe," he said. "I'm offering you some payback. Hopefully, this will only be your first opportunity of many."

Gabriel sat for a moment, utterly stunned. Yesterday - this _morning_ \- he had been sure that nothing lay ahead of him but four walls and maybe a couple of trashy novels to pass the months and years to come. He had thought that the few remaining Overwatch agents might be somewhere in this building - probably in this very room - planning a mission of exactly the type he saw laid out on that board behind him. 

"You're letting me out?" he asked. He felt like if he asked for clarification, the hope would vanish like dew, melting away when exposed to light, but he literally couldn't think of any other interpretation of Jack's words.

"Not alone," Jack said, raising a forefinger. 

Gabriel's mind immediately went to the incident earlier that morning. "You're sending me out with McCree as my handler?" he asked, trying not to show the way his stomach dropped. Not the first time a subordinate had been promoted over him, but last time said subordinate had been warming his bed. This time, it would be a lot less fun. Jesse didn't give up grudges easily.

Jack smiled sardonically. "He offered, but no. I'll be your handler for this mission. McCree could do it, but in this case, I feel like my personal involvement is warranted. Besides, it might get it through everyone's head that I'm not Strike Commander anymore."

Gabriel stared at Jack for a long moment, trying to figure out the catch. Christmas had come early, but he didn't trust it.

"Just you and me, on a mission together," he said, and broke into a wide grin. "Like old times."

Jack's expression turned sour and he rubbed that scar that crossed the bridge of his nose. "Not _exactly_ like old times."

~ ~ ~

The mission briefing took roughly an hour. Jack sketched out the main points of the mission, fleshing out what Gabriel had already gleaned from the board. Gabriel followed along with an enthusiasm he hadn't seen in the other man since - well, since last night, when they had been kissing. Jack wasn't sure how he felt about the comparison. 

The whole time a voice whispered in the back of Jack's mind. What was Gabriel's real goal, here? Was he really just this happy about getting let out of his cage? Was it because he was with Jack? Did he see this as an opportunity to secure a triumphant return to Talon, along with his prisoner?

It was exhausting to be this paranoid. All he could hope was that Jesse was right, and he would learn something more definitive during this mission, without playing right into Talon's hands.

When the briefing was done, Jack rose. "We head out at 04:00 tomorrow morning by dropship. The landing zone will be some distance from the location, and we'll have to hoof it from there. Get any closer by ship and there's a chance we'll be spotted, so it can't be helped. Be ready to go at that time, and don't worry about packing anything - everything you need will be on the ship."

Gabriel got to his feet. "Back to my cell to wait?" he asked. Despite the question, Gabriel was still smirking like the cat who caught the canary. "Or do I get to mix in the mess hall like a real Overwatch Agent?"

"You're not a real Overwatch Agent, Gabe," Jack cautioned him, but put a hand on his shoulder to soften the blow of that factual statement. "It's probably for the best that you not mix with the others just yet. So yes, back to your cell. But tomorrow, we'll be going, and if all goes well, you'll have earned some good will by the time this mission is over. I can't promise anything, but at that time... we'll see."

Gabriel nodded, and turned towards the door. Then he paused, and glanced back. "One thing. A request, something I'd like to requisition now."

Jack nodded warily, unsure of what to expect. "Spit it out."

"Can I have a clock in my room? Athena won't talk to me, and I can't tell when it's night from down there, with no windows."

Jack felt his groin stir at the words, his mind immediately going to later that night - and what sounded to him like Gabriel's intention to come visiting once more. He grunted and gave a curt nod, jerking his head to indicate that Gabriel should get moving. "Sure. I can arrange that."

As he'd anticipated, Gabriel's voice came back in a low purr - made strange, but not unpleasant by the Reaper's harmonics. "Good..."

Jack swallowed and quickly returned Gabriel to his cell, then asked Winston to deliver a simple alarm clock to their prisoner. He made the excuse that Gabriel needed to be up and ready early the following morning, and felt that he'd managed to deal with the issue satisfactorily, without arousing any suspicion about what other uses Gabriel might have for a way to tell the time.

Then he returned to Angela's ward. "How's it going?" he asked. "You getting the data feed like we hoped?"

Angela was sorting through her inventory, checking the expiry dates on various medications and tossing the vast majority of them into a large garbage bin. "The nanomachines I injected seem to have taken without a problem," she said. "Winston and Athena can pick him up via satellite, wherever he might go in the world, and we'll be able to get other data as well. I can continue to monitor his vitals and physiology from here, too. When he uses his abilities, hopefully I'll learn something." 

He nodded. And hopefully if he did betray them, she, Winston, and the rest of what remained of Overwatch would be able to follow him right back to Talon, and strike at their heart.

"Good," he said. "Thank you."

She nodded, her lips pressed tight together. "Do you think-- What do you think he'll do?"

"I want to think he's Gabriel Reyes, former Commander of Blackwatch, and that he'll execute the mission with his usual style and skill," Jack said gruffly. Angela nodded, and he turned to leave. Neither of them voiced their doubts and worries - neither of them had to. 

From there, he checked in with the others, everyone who had yet arrived. While there were still significant gaps - Genji and Ana were immediately notable by their absence - the Watchpoint was beginning to feel less like a cavernous empty tomb, and more like an empty nester's house - still too big for the number of people present, but in a comparatively cheerful way. 

It was unexpectedly good to see many of his former comrades, older but still largely the same as he remembered them. Jack was even persuaded to share dinner in the mess hall with them. No one asked about Gabriel. They were pointed in not asking, and Jack was stubborn in not bringing him up.

Finally, he headed to his room. As he stepped into the elevator to make his way there, Athena suddenly spoke up in his ear. "Security alert. Commander, Mr. Reyes has just entered your room without authorization." Jack winced and jabbed the button for his floor. 

"Thank you for the warning, Athena. No need for a general alert."

"Yes, Commander."

When the doors finally opened, Jack lengthened his stride and moved swiftly to his door. He pressed his palm to the lock and it sprung open. 

The door slid aside and Jack saw Gabriel spring up from his desk chair, eyes wide. "Jack, there you are. I just got here, and I was about to go if you didn't come back in a minute," he said. "I thought you'd be here by now. I didn't mean to break in when you weren't here."

Jack automatically scanned the room. There was no sign that Gabriel had disturbed anything. He had been sitting at Jack's personal terminal, but the screen was black. He glanced at the darkness outside the windows. "It's late," he said. "It's fine, Gabe. I spent more time, ah, going over personnel files than I had meant to, and I lost track of time."

Gabriel relaxed visibly and his smile began to creep once more over his face. "Glad to be forgiven." He spread his hands. "So tell me, Jack - where do you want me, tonight?"

Jack felt a foreign expression steal across his own face, a stretching of his lips into a genuine smile. It had been so long. He stepped closer and tugged Gabriel closer, arms wrapped around Gabriel's waist. "Right here," he growled, and kissed the other man. 

Gabriel melted into the kiss, a soft groan as of relief bubbling up in his throat, so deep and growling compared to the way his voice used to be that it scarcely sounded human. Jack ran his fingers up under Gabriel's shirt, lifting it up to bare perfect muscles and smooth skin. 

"Lie down," Jack growled, pulling away only long enough to yank his own shirt up and over his head. "Take your clothes off."

Gabriel eagerly complied. He faded to mist, and his clothing simply dropped to the floor. A moment later, the cloud reformed on the bed and Gabriel sank into it, propped up on his elbows and naked as the day he was born.

Jack's jaw dropped, and he paused with his hands on his fly, the button popped and the zipper half-undone. As he stared, even though it had to have been only a few seconds, Gabriel's smile vanished as if it, too, were made of mist.

"Too much?" Gabriel asked, his eyes flicking to one side, away from Jack.

"No, no," Jack hastened to assure him. He skinned out of his pants and kicked off his boots, leaving everything in a messy pile next to Gabriel's clothes. "It's fine, Gabe."

It should have occurred to him that Gabriel could do that. The surprising part, now that he thought about it, was that he was able to turn his clothes - and other people - to mist along with his own body. 

He climbed onto the bed, aware that Gabriel still wasn't looking at him, and unsure of how to reassure the other man. He reached out and cupped Gabriel's cheek, then leaned closer and kissed him softly. Gabriel hummed into the kiss, relaxing as it drew out, and opening his mouth in obvious invitation. Jack took that invitation and delved deeper with his tongue, tasting the familiar flavour of his lover, along with foreign undertones. Gabriel was cooler to the touch than he remembered, but not unpleasantly so, and Jack found any awkwardness of the moment melting away.

Gabriel's arms went around him, drawing Jack down so they were chest to chest, their legs intertwined and Jack's weight pressing Gabriel more deeply into the bed. They fit together perfectly, of a similar height and build. Jack was easily able to draw a knee up and press it to the join of Gabriel's legs, rubbing his thigh to the underside of Gabriel’s cock and his balls.

Gabriel groaned and broke off the kiss, drawing a shuddering breath. "Jack..." he moaned.

"Yeah," Jack rumbled, his voice rough with desire. He hesitated, then cautiously offered, "How 'bout I use my mouth on you?"

He was hesitant to suggest anything too directly, or too much. The dynamic was just too uneven. For the same reason why Jack had refused to have sex with Gabriel when they were in Numbani, he couldn't push Gabriel too far here. While it seemed obvious to him that Gabriel wanted him, he couldn't allow himself to accidentally take advantage of the other man. 

Giving Gabriel some of the pleasure he craved and desired seemed okay to him, but anything else - taking what _he_ wanted from Gabriel when the man was in his power like this - that he couldn't allow himself to do no matter how much he might want to, nor how much Gabriel might appear to be willing to accommodate him.

Gabriel nodded vigorously, though, his breath hitching in his chest. "Fuck yeah. Yeah, please."

"Okay," Jack said agreeably. He worked his way down slowly, though, kissing and sucking at Gabriel's dusky skin. He toyed with his nipples with fingers and tongue, making Gabriel writhe and keen with need. He scraped blunt fingernails down Gabriel's sides, eliciting more delicious sounds of pleasure. 

Finally, he reached the thick, weeping cock jutting from the join of Gabriel's legs. The nest of curls was just as thick as he recalled, his prick standing up proudly. Jack curled his fingers around Gabriel's member and gave it a few gentle tugs. Gabriel squirmed and swore, and Jack felt his own cock twitch and swell even more than it already had. 

He was going to give himself blue balls at this rate, but it was worth it to see the effect even these small touches had on Gabriel. 

"You sure?" he asked, though he had little doubt of it. "We could just cuddle."

Gabriel's eyes popped open and he gave Jack a fierce glare. "Don't fucking think about it," he hissed. 

Jack chuckled, though there was an edge of caution to it. That hiss had reminded him of Reaper more than he felt comfortable with.

No matter. He opened his mouth and swallowed Gabriel's cock down, working his way inch by inch until his nose was buried in the soft curls at the base. His hand slid down and he pushed himself up onto his knees, bent over Gabriel as though in worship. He bobbed his head up and down, sucking and licking at the thick shaft in his mouth, as he stroked his own cock with his hand.

Gabriel groaned and writhed, his hips making short, abbreviated jerks. "Fuck...Jack, oh god," he groaned, as Jack pulled up until Gabriel's cock was almost completely out of his mouth, sucking at the tip and allowing his tongue to swirl around the head before plunging his head back down. He worked over Gabriel's cock as hard and fast as he could with his mouth, his shoulders and neck tightening at the unaccustomed position and movement.

His own pleasure mounted as he worked his cock with his right hand, bracing himself up with his left. He began to pant and grunt as his climax neared, his balls drawing up and his body trembling as the orgasm threatened. Gabriel didn't seem to notice Jack’s reactions, writhing and pleading with moans and cries. 

Jack couldn't hold back any longer, he shuddered and gave a soft groan of pleasure as he spilled himself into his own palm, some of the fluid spattering onto the blankets. At the same moment, Gabriel climaxed. Salty fluid flowed into Jack's mouth, somewhat unexpected. Jack pulled back and swallowed what he could, the rest running down his chin. Gabriel arched his back and shuddered as he continued to come, semen spattering his stomach and chest.

Jack rose quickly, walking stiff-legged and somewhat shaky into the bathroom. He dampened a towel and was back just as Gabriel opened his eyes and blearily looked around for him. "Hey," he said gruffly, bending over Gabriel and mopping up what had spilled. "You good?"

Gabriel smiled faintly, reaching up and tangling his fingers in Jack's short-cropped white hair as best he could. "I'm great," he said. "Never better." Well, that was a lie, but a sweet one. Jack returned the smile and kissed him again, unable to help himself.

He cleaned up as much as he could blindly, his lips still pressed to Gabriel's, and then tossed the dirty rag over his shoulder. He could clean it all up later before they left in the morning. Taking care of his lover took precedence.

Gabriel's fingers began to spider over his back, working their way down his side and to his hip, and Jack realized where he was going just in time to catch his wrist gently and pull it back up. He pressed a kiss to Gabriel's palm, and then laid his hand back down on the bed. "No need," he said. "I took care of it."

"Oh." Gabriel's expression was inscrutable for a moment, then he leaned up to kiss Jack again, tugging him down. Jack gladly went, stretching out next to the other man.

After a few more minutes of making out like two high school sweethearts, Jack had to come up for air. He took a breath and sighed it out, as close to content as he could recall being in a long time. Though there was still a lot that was fucked up about the situation, he could almost forget about it right now. 

Gabriel tugged at a lock of his white hair. "You should get some sleep, old man," he said. "You've got to get up early in the morning."

Jack grunted, reminded that _Gabriel_ didn't need to sleep. He was right, Jack did need to get some shut-eye. He'd want to be at his best once they left the Watchpoint.

"Move your ass, then," he griped, grabbing the corner of the blanket and tugging down, but stopped by the weight of both of them on the fabric. Gabriel snorted and sat up, and soon they had pulled the covers back and were both ensconced underneath them, Jack's head pillowed on Gabriel's shoulder and his arm cinched around the other man's waist.

"Athena, set an alarm for oh-three hundred," Jack muttered thickly, already half-way down to sleep.

"Yes, Commander," Athena said softly. "Sleep well."

"G'nite, Jack," Gabriel murmured, combing his fingers through Jack's hair. He really was warm enough, Jack decided, as he drifted off.


	16. Chapter 16

Gabriel waited, holding Jack close to his chest for the second night in a row while the other man indulged his all-too-human need for sleep, and staring into the darkness. The blow that had accompanied his renewed understanding that Jack didn't want him touching him had been easier to take this time, because he was expecting it, and Gabriel almost felt okay with the world. Jack might not love him anymore, but he was still sweet and good, and his kisses were exactly as Gabriel remembered them, and he still sucked cock like a goddamned professional.

It was that single-minded determination that Jack had, where he had to do everything perfectly. It translated into mind-blowing sex, and Gabriel had always felt lucky it did.

At three-am, Athena chimed a gentle wake-up call. Jack began to stir, and Gabriel didn't wait for him to tell him what he needed to do. He gave Jack one last kiss, then faded to his wraith form and left.

Once back in his cell, he paced, a rush of nervous energy taking hold of him once it began to sink in that he was only going to have to wait for a short time, and then he'd be _out_. Out of this cell. Out of the Watchpoint. Out in the world again.

Out on a mission where he might be able to work off some of the frustration of the past couple of days. Out where he would feel powerful and useful and in control of his own destiny again.

The fact that Jack would be there was nothing but a bonus in his mind. As he had wanted, from almost the moment he'd caught him in Numbani, he and Jack would be working together, fighting together, taking revenge on Talon together. It was going to be wonderful, watching Jack in action again, and having him there at his side. They were going to be so beautiful together.

All Gabriel had to do was not royally fuck things up.

The door lock clanged as it disengaged and the hinges squeaked as the door opened to reveal Jack dressed in something similar to the garb he'd been wearing when Reaper had captured him in Numbani. They had recovered his tac visor before leaving the building, and he was wearing it over his face, the mask glowing faintly even under the harsh prison lights. He carried his pulse rifle, but didn't have it pointed at Gabriel, carrying it in one hand low at his side.

According to the clock, it was 0350. 

"Ten minutes to wheels up," Jack said. "You ready?" It was creepy seeing him with his face covered, showing no hint of his feelings - giving Gabriel even less of a clue than usual. But his voice was no harsher than Gabriel had come to expect from him these days. 

"Ready as I can be considering I didn't have to do fuck all to _get_ ready," Gabriel said, eager. "When do I get my gear?" He was wearing no shoes, clad in a pair of jeans and a pullover, but it wasn't like he could have changed. 

"You can gear up on the ship," Jack said, and jerked his head. "Let's go."

This time, Jack took the lead and Gabriel followed. It felt like a promotion of sorts - an indication that Jack now trusted him at his back, rather than having to put him up front where he could watch him. Gabriel took it as such, and was content to follow where Jack led.

Jack led him to the air strip, a large flat area where the Orca dropship could land and take off. When the dropship was there, it dominated the entire area, just barely fitting onto a circle of pavement large enough to accommodate its bulk.

Just as they opened the door to step outside, there was a popping sound and Tracer appeared right in front of them. "Oh, Commander, there you are! I wasn't sure about arrangements for prisoner transport and I was just coming to loo--" She stopped dead, her eyes widening behind her goggles as she spotted Gabriel standing right behind Jack. She raised a hand, her face paling, and gave a wave. "A-ah, hello there!"

He waved a hand in response, vividly recalling the last time he had seen her. A mission to steal Doomfist's gauntlet from the Historical Museum in Numbani. That mission had been a failure-- No, that wasn't the part he should be thinking about. He had nearly killed Tracer that day - and some other people.

"Hi," he said, and was self-consciously aware of the odd harmonics in his own voice. He saw her wince, and the pallor of her face increase.

Jack cleared his throat. "No need to make arrangements, Tracer. As you can see, the prisoner and I have arrived."

She swallowed visibly, her eyes darting from Jack to Gabriel and back, then saluted. "Y-yes, sir. I see that. All right, then, is there anything else we need to load up before we go? The Orca's fueled and ready for takeoff."

"So long as the equipment on the manifest I loaded into Athena last night is all on board, we're good to go," Jack said.

"It is," Tracer said. She shifted, not looking at Gabriel. "Ah, so. So, I'd better begin final take off checks. See ya!"

Before Gabriel could say another word, not to mention that she didn't wait to be formally dismissed by Jack, she vanished. Gabriel caught a glimpse of her reappearing on the gangway of the Orca a few feet away, and then she blinked away again.

Jack didn't start moving immediately. He drew a breath and let it out in a sigh. 

Gabriel cleared his throat. "It's okay, Jack," he said. "Like you said, after this mission, it'll get better."

Jack glanced back at him, and actually gripped his shoulder for a few moments, giving a squeeze. "Don't worry," he said. "She just needs some time. They all do."

"I get it," Gabriel muttered. He glanced around. Under normal circumstances, he might have expected a good-bye party to have gathered. The sun was just beginning to rise, the sky warming in faint pinks and yellows, and there was still a cold breeze sweeping of of the ocean. Even on an early morning departure like this, he'd have expected someone to come to see them off. But no one stirred but the gulls, calling to one another from their nests high in the towers of the Watchpoint.

"Come on, let's get moving," Jack muttered. Gabriel fell into step behind him, and they crossed the tarmac, stepping up onto the gangway and entering the dropship. 

Tracer was in the pilot's seat up on the upper deck. Gabriel didn't even look in that direction. He'd give her space, and soon enough they'd have arrived in Nepal and she wouldn't have to endure his presence anymore. Jack gestured towards a duffel bag set on one of the low tables. "There's your gear. It'll be a good twelve hours before we arrive at our destination, but you can open it up if you want. You can get changed whenever you want."

Glad for permission to make himself comfortable, Gabriel moved over to the bag and unzipped it. Jack stumped upstairs to talk to Tracer, who began calling out last minute green lights as she performed her final checks before take off. Gabriel pulled out a pair of his boots, and some of his old clothes. Someone had done a passable job of washing them, though they still smelled faintly of mothballs. He didn't remember keeping clothes in a locker here, but it would have made sense. Good thing he had.

Underneath the clothing was a pair of his guns. He reached in almost reverently and removed them, running his fingers lovingly over the barrel of one of them. Jack had confiscated his guns when he knocked him out back in Numbani, and he'd expected to either get them back for the mission, or not to be allowed a weapon at all. These ones were older than the ones he had most recently carried, used when he was in Blackwatch, before everything had happened. They were black, heavy, and adorned with the Blackwatch symbol on the stock.

He glanced up, his eyes moving unerringly to the cockpit of the Orca, where he could see Jack's broad back standing just behind Tracer's seat. "Smart," he murmured to himself. Everything in this bag was designed to remind him that he was Gabriel Reyes, former Commander of Blackwatch. Not the Reaper.

He just hoped it worked.

He set the guns down, though he was loathe to leave them behind for even a moment, and walked into the Orca's tiny head to change. While he was rattling around inside the small cubicle, he heard Tracer give the final take-off warning and the Orca lifted off. He had to put out a hand once while she climbed into the air, and braced himself against the head. He was halfway through putting his boots on, one leg in the air and the other planted firmly on the floor. But soon they levelled off and he finished dressing.

He emerged to find Jack seated on one of the couches, reading something on a tablet. He looked up and observed Gabriel. He was still wearing his tac visor, so the gaze was utterly inscrutable. 

Gabriel raised his palms and spun in a circle. "How do I look?"

"Good," Jack said, and got to his feet, setting the tablet aside. "You just need one thing." He moved to a small closet and tugged it open, then withdrew a larger bundle of fabric and tossed it to Gabriel.

"Thought you were going to pull a beanie out of your ass, but this looks too big to fit in there." Gabriel shook out the bundle, laughed, and pulled on the long black coat, also adorned with a Blackwatch patch on the shoulder. "Jesus, you sentimental asshole. Did you keep everything of mine?"

"Shut up," Jack said, which made Gabriel smile even bigger.

~ ~ ~

The trip to Nepal took all day. In a bygone era, Jack would have expected Gabriel to spend most of that time either napping, or catching up on the limited administrative work that Jack had forced him to do as Commander of Blackwatch. Gabriel was so damn bad at paperwork that Jack had either delegated most of his admin work, or just done it himself, but there were some things only Gabriel could do, and that tended to pile up. 

Unfortunately, these days Gabriel couldn't sleep, and he had no paperwork to do. Jack had brought him a second tablet - with the wifi disabled and loaded with a library of novels, many of them romance novels. Gabriel had grumbled and muttered at the selection, but had spent most of the trip glued to the screen, so Jack was sure it had been a good choice.

"Making final approach. Everyone take your positions," Tracer called out over the intercom. Gabriel strapped himself in - something Jack noticed he hadn't bothered to do on take-off. Jack headed up to the cockpit and settled into the co-pilot seat. 

He knew that even though the terrain here was some of the roughest in the world, Tracer wouldn't need assistance, and Jack's always amateur drop-ship flying skills were even more rusty these days than they used to be. He wasn't here to take the stick from Tracer, but instead because it would give him the best vantage point from which to see the terrain they'd soon be moving through on a far more up close and personal basis.

After so many years of travelling the world largely on foot or by hitching rides as a stowaway to keep his movements hidden, it was beyond strange to be sitting here next to Tracer, on a drop-ship he'd traveled on a thousand times. Almost like old times, which was at once comfortable and at the same time caused a knot of anxiety and pain to form in his stomach.

"Are you going to be okay, Commander?" Tracer asked in a sotto voce whisper, her eyes darting from her controls and readouts to the staircase, beyond which Jack knew Gabriel was sitting.

"What are you worried about - Talon, or Gabriel?" he asked, knowing the answer.

She shifted in her seat. "I know he's supposed to be cured... and I feel _terrible_ worrying," she said. "But we only just got you back, and now you're going to be out of contact for _days_." Her voice dropped even more softly. "With _him_."

Jack sighed. There had been heated discussions about this mission already the night before, and Tracer had talked about her run-in with Widowmaker in King's Row. While he usually could count on Lena Oxton to be the optimistic and forgiving one in the group, her failure to prevent Mondatta's death at the hands of the former Overwatch Agent seemed to have rocked her world on its axis. "She is completely mental," Lena had declared, wringing her hands. "And I hate to say it, but wouldn't they have done the same things to Commander Reyes? What if he's lying?"

What if, indeed. But Jack was set on this course, and he wasn't about to change his mind now.

"I can handle Gabriel," he lied. If Gabriel did revert to Reaper, he already knew he was likely screwed, but it was a risk he was willing to take. "And if all goes well, then we'll all feel better about having him around, right?"

She squirmed, and nodded. "I do want him to be better," she said, and swallowed hard. "It's just hard to square what I've seen him do, with the old Commander Reyes."

"I couldn't agree more," Jack said softly. 

Tracer nodded, then sat up straighter in her chair, refocusing on what she was doing. The terrain below was wrinkled like day-old laundry. The mountains around here were small in comparison to the highest peaks further to the West, but from the way Tracer began to wrestle with the controls, there were still a lot of cross-winds. 

She set them down without incident on the southern slope of a mountain just south of their destination. The Orca's engines remained hot, and Tracer immediately called out. "Time to go! I'll lift off immediately once you've disembarked. Way too windy here to stay long and it looks like there's a storm blowing in. Should be here in about three hours."

Jack got up from his chair, and jumped as he turned and saw Gabriel standing behind him. He hadn't even noticed the soft whisper of his movement this time - and he was sure he would have noticed his boots' heavy tread if he's walked. The sound of the Reaper's abilities were probably too quiet to hear over the noise of the wind blowing past the Orca outside.

Gabriel was standing still, his guns just visible sticking out of the holsters at the small of his back. He carried the duffel bag over his shoulder, which they had repacked with climbing equipment, food for Jack, and other necessaries.

Gabriel held out Jack's pulse rifle, and he took it. Then Gabriel looked at Tracer. "Hey, kid," he said. Tracer leaped up from her seat as if she'd been stung by a bee, whirling around to look at him with shock in her eyes. Gabriel winced and cleared his throat, then continued on doggedly. "Before I go, I just wanted to say... I'm sorry for the things I did while I was with Talon. I don't expect you to forgive me, so, it's fine." He gestured with one hand towards Jack. "But I hope one day you'll believe me when I say, I'm gonna take good care of him. Don't worry."

Tracer's mouth formed an 'Oh', either of shock, or perhaps it was her response to Gabriel's speech. 

Either way, she barely voiced the vowel, and Gabriel didn't wait for a reply. He turned and stumped back down the stairs, confirming Jack's suspicion that he had teleported up here in the first place. "Get your ass in gear, Jack," he called jovially. "Daylight's burning."

Jack glanced outside at the setting sun, huffed, and then looked at Tracer. "See you in a week," he said. 

She swallowed visibly, and nodded, then saluted with a shaking hand. "See you soon, Commander."

Jack followed Gabriel outside, down the gangway. When their boots crunched on dry dirt and gravel, the gangway rose upwards to seal with the bulkhead. He and Gabriel continued walking north up the slope of the hill, and when they had reached a safe distance, the Orca rose almost noiselessly up into the air and glided away.

"Well," said Gabriel brightly. "That was fucking awkward."

"It'll get better," Jack assured him. "She just needs to get used to you."

They walked in silence, while Jack occupied his mind by bringing up the maps he'd memorized and orienting himself. The maps were also on the tablet, but he wasn't about to try to read while also stumbling around in the dark on a mountain side - that was a great way to get a broken... everything. So he contented himself with the mental version.

From here they would head north and west to a road that ran through the mountains to the city. Once they had reached the road, they would have an easier time traveling, but they would still need to keep a low profile, as they wouldn't want anyone from Talon to noticed their arrival. 

The city itself was barely worth dignifying with the term. it did have an airport - which Gabriel had disclosed was primarily used by Talon to bring in supplies for their base - but not much else of note. Essentially the entire place was Talon controlled and it didn't have much of a tourist industry, so they would easily mark any travelers who didn't appear to fit. Gabriel and Jack didn't intend to try to pretend to be tourists anyway - they would rely on stealth, and speed, to strike rather than subterfuge. 

Within less than an hour of walking, Jack was huffing and puffing, though he wasn't trying to hurry. The air was thinner than he had expected, and he wondered if he'd made a mistake by choosing not to pack any oxygen. Athena hadn't recommended it, which should have meant it wasn't needed.

 _Damnit,_ he realized suddenly. _The oxygen's thin, yeah, but the real problem is I'm getting **old**._

Gabriel, of course, wasn't breathing hard at all. He seemed completely comfortable, Jack noted sourly, even though he was carrying all their gear. He cast brief glances at Jack every few steps, his brows furrowing with worry.

Then he asked the question Jack was dreading. "You doing okay, Jack?"

Jack drew in as deep a lungful of air as he could. "Fine," he gritted out. He could make it to the road. The sun was well down and it would only take them another six hours or so. They'd be in sight of the road before dawn and they could make their way into the city, entering it after nightfall on the second evening. It was nothing he hadn't done a million times before.

Though infiltrating a city like Dorado or Numbani was a bit different from hoofing it across a high mountain wasteland.

Even as he thought it, his foot hit a stone he hadn't seen, even though his visor gave him night vision. His foot hit the rock solidly, and then his other foot slipped on loose gravel as he tried to compensate. His ankle turned and he pitched forward, sprawling full-length on the rocky ground. "Goddamnit," he hissed, pushing himself up. His fingers were numb, he realized abruptly. It was damn cold - the temperature had dropped precipitously in the time they had traveled, and the wind was kicking up - probably the first signs of that storm Tracer had mentioned.

When the rain started, it was going to get _really_ fun out here.

Gabriel grabbed him by the arm. "Hey, you good?" he asked, and Jack shook him off, angry at himself for the show of weakness and clumsiness.

"I'm _fine_ , I said," he snapped, and Gabriel recoiled.

"Okay, okay, shit," he said, looking away. "Just trying to help." He looked up, giving Jack a few minutes to sort himself out and massage his wounded pride - and bashed right knee - and his brows furrowed even more deeply.

"What?" Jack turned his head and peered up at the sky, but all he saw was a general green glow from the night vision.

"Those clouds look bad," Gabriel said. "Looks like it's going to dump a thousand tonnes of rain on us - or snow, if we're really unlucky. You got the forecast?"

Jack grunted with frustration as Gabriel dug in the duffel bag and pulled out their tablet. "There's no wifi, remember? No satellite either, we're cut off until we rendezvous with Tracer, unless we can find another way to get a message to them."

Gabriel turned his head to stare at Jack. "You disabled the wifi so I couldn't get a message to Talon," he said. It wasn't a question. "But you left _yourself_ no way to communicate with Overwatch?"

"We're alone in the wilderness, you and me. You don't sleep, but I'm gonna have to eventually. I also know you can overpower me if you get it in your head that you want to," Jack said through gritted teeth. He and Gabriel were sitting on a cold rock on the side of a mountain with a storm about to blow in, but apparently now was the time to have a row. "I had to assume that you could get hold of anything I brought with me and use it without my knowledge."

"If you don't trust me," Gabriel said, his eyes alight with anger. "Then why bring me here at all? When we get to Talon, I could just give you up. How could you stop me from doing that?"

"I _do_ trust you!" Jack snapped. "Or I wouldn't be here. But I'm not an idiot. Giving us up and ruining the mission - well, if that's your plan then I guess I'm dead. But at least I'll know you did it. If you accessed wifi while I was napping and brought Talon down on our heads, then I'd never know you betrayed us."

Gabriel held his gaze for a long time, which had to be hard since Jack was wearing the visor. They glared at each other for a while, but Gabriel was the one who looked away first. 

It wasn't a surrender, though. He got to his feet with purpose and dumped the duffel bag at Jack's feet. "Stay there and rest, old man," he said. "I'll be back."

Jack's jaw dropped. "Now just where the hell do you think--"

Gabriel turned to mist, and sank into the ground, vanishing from sight.

Jack sat where he was, grinding his teeth to nubs. The wind was really starting to kick up now, and the temperature was still dropping. He had no desire to follow Gabriel's orders or reward his bullshit, but he saw no choice but to do exactly that. If he got up and started walking again, who knew if Gabriel was going to be able to find him?

He'd wait for a while, he decided, and if Gabriel didn't come back, then he'd give up the mission. There were some other towns in the opposite direction where he could get a signal to Tracer. He'd have to assume that the mission was a bust, and that if he tried to complete it he'd be walking into a trap.

The first fat, cold drops began to fall onto his head, and Jack wrapped his arms around himself. He was wearing basic cold weather gear - lined boots and jacket - and there was warmer stuff for true survival in the bag, but he wasn't about to break out the camping equipment just yet. 

Where the _fuck_ had Gabriel gone?

Just as he was starting to really shiver and reconsider the wisdom of sitting there without doing anything, Gabriel flowed up out of the ground and reformed into his human shape. He grabbed up the bag and shouldered it. "Come on," he said. "It's not far."

Jack got to his feet, only realizing just then that his ankle was sore and he was stiff from sitting on the ground. " _What's_ not far?" he snarled.

"You'll see."

Gabriel voice was cold and sounded like gravestones grinding together, and that made Jack shiver even more. He couldn't have made it all the way to Simikot and back in that time, so there was no way he had contacted Talon. Right? Unless Talon had some kind of outpost outside of the city that was a lot closer than Jack had ever suspected, and which was hidden from satellite imagery.

Jack considered demanding answers half a dozen times and rejected it each time. Gabriel had apparently decided to be stubborn and not tell him, and demanding more would only make him dig in his heels even further. But it sat poorly with Jack to just follow along when Gabriel was the one who was supposed to be proving himself to him.

He limped along, arguing with Gabriel in his mind and keeping his mouth clamped shut except for the panting - which started up again quickly after they began to move up a steeper incline.

The rain poured down, and quickly turned to snow, which started to accumulate in light patches on every surface, making the rocks even more slick. Jack nearly slipped again, and this time Gabriel caught him. 

"I could take you there," Gabriel offered, releasing his arm once Jack had set his feet again.

"Hell no," Jack snarled. 

"It's not much further," Gabriel said, and took the lead once more. Jack didn't think it was his imagination that Gabriel was walking faster this time.

Suddenly, Jack realized that he had lost sight of Gabriel. One minute, he had put his hand out to steady himself as he stepped past a large rock, and then he had vanished again. 

"Gabe?" he called out, his heart doubling in speed once again. Surely he hadn't misted again, leaving Jack stranded on the side of a mountain in a snowstorm once again.

"Right here." The voice came from almost immediately to Jack's right, and he turned his head, peering into the green-tinted darkness. 

There, was a small cleft in the rocks. Gabriel's gloved hand protruded from it and waved. Jack cursed under his breath and squeezed himself inside the crack.

There was a chest-squeezing moment and a short burst of panic as Jack worried he wouldn't be able to get through. Then he was through the gap and into a wider space - a cave made of large boulders that had at some point tumbled together and formed a hollow space under the ground. It was so dark, even his night vision had a hard time distinguishing the dimensions of the cave.

It was still ass-chafingly cold, but at least he was out of the wind and snow. It was dry and the air didn't move much. He could hear Gabriel moving off to his left, and he turned in that direction, spotting his movement as he dug through the duffel bag.

"You found this place?" Jack asked, mystified. "That's why you were gone?"

"What the fuck do you think?" Gabriel asked. He approached and pressed an activated hand warmer into Jack's palm. Jack closed his fingers around it, cupping it in both hands.

"Why didn't you just _say_ that's what you were doing?"

Gabriel snorted. "Because I knew you'd give me shit for it and say you were fine and that we should just keep going all goddamn night. And then you'd fall and break your neck and die, and Overwatch would blame me."

Okay, that was fair.

Gabriel returned to the bag and pulled out the thermal blanket, shaking it out to its full size. It wasn't huge, but it was lightweight and surprisingly thin, yet held in heat well. He returned to Jack, wrapped it around his shoulders and Jack realized that he was already starting to feel better. His breathing had evened out and he'd stopped shivering. As Jack sat down and leaned against a wall, tugging the blanket more closely around himself, Gabriel tossed down a biotic field grenade next to him, and Jack found himself sinking into the warm circle of light like a hot bath.

Maybe an extra day of travel time wouldn't eat into their mission too much. He'd given them plenty of buffer, just in case they ran into unexpected issues. Issues like a storm, though that hadn't been what he'd had in mind.

He sighed and closed his eyes, tipping his head back against the wall. He pulled off his tac visor and set it aside, which meant that the very dark cave became completely dark. But it did seem like they were safe and staying here a while, so there was no reason to keep it on. "You did good, Gabe," he said grudgingly. "Sorry I was being pissy about it."

Gabriel shoved an MRE into his hands and sat down next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "If you weren't acting like an old codger, I'd wonder where Jack Morrison had gone off to."

Jack grunted irritably and dug into the food. "Asshole."

Gabriel just laughed.

They sat in companionable silence, listening to the vague howl of the wind outside their little dank cave. The MRE warmed Jack inside just as the hand warmers and thermal blanket warmed up his outside, and soon he found himself drowsing. He leaned his head against Gabriel's shoulder, and Gabriel kissed him on the top of the head, the forehead, his cheeks. Jack relaxed completely, and turned over, wrapping his arm around Gabriel's waist and resting against his chest.

"You should've taken me up on my original offer," Gabriel said after a while. "If you'd let Her give you the same treatment as she gave me, then you wouldn't have to worry about the cold or any of this shit now."

Jack stiffened up and raised his head. He couldn't see Gabriel's face, but he had to be grinning. He _had_ to be. "What the fuck did you just say?"

Gabriel chuckled and nudged his head back down. "Jesus, Jack. I'm _kidding_."

Jack let out a long breath and closed his eyes. Of course he was joking.

Of course he was.


	17. Chapter 17

The night passed more pleasantly than the previous two, for Gabriel, at least. Somehow, he felt more comfortable in this dank, isolated cave than he had at Gibraltar, even in Jack's bedroom. He tried to tell himself that it was because he was out in the world, _doing_ something, but a part of him wondered if it wasn't because this cave reminded him of his room at the tower in Numbani.

Jack slept deeply, tired by the trek across the mountains. The cold, oxygen-poor air was doing a number on his body, but there was only so much Gabriel could do. 

Despite knowing that Jack probably could use the rest, Gabriel let his fingers wander. His claws drifted lightly down Jack's neck and the older man muttered in his sleep, shifting and tilting his head to bare a bit more skin. 

_He's gonna be grumpy at me if I wake him up,_ Gabriel thought, but he bent anyway and kissed Jack, luxuriating in a fantasy that had started long before they left Talon. A fantasy of the two of them, free and together against the world, with no awkwardness or bad feeling between them.

"Mine," he murmured, the word almost inaudible, and Jack sighed in a contented way that Gabriel could almost pretend was agreement.

Jack's eyes fluttered open and he pressed into the kiss, gloved fingers fisting in Gabriel's jacket. They kissed for a few long moments, and then Jack drew away and rested his cheek against Gabriel's shoulder.

"You can't be serious. Now?" Jack murmured, his voice roughened by sleep. 

"Didn't mean to wake you up."

"Don't bullshit me."

"Go back to sleep, then," Gabriel dared him.

Jack grunted and threw a leg over, straddling the other man's lap. "You'll just be insufferable."

Gabriel grabbed his ass and squeezed. Jack grunted and attacked his lips, thrusting his tongue into Gabriel's mouth. Gabriel moaned softly into the kiss, encouraging it. They ran hands hungrily over one another, sliding fingers up under each other's clothes and skimming over backs and sides and stomachs. Gabriel pinched Jack's nipples, rolling them between his fingers, and Jack groaned at the stimulation.

Soon, Jack was grinding his hips in circles against Gabriel's stomach. Gabriel ran a greedy hand down the outside of Jack's thigh, and then thrust his palm between Jack's legs, groping his crotch.

Jack groaned and humped his hand, which Gabriel took as encouragement. Finally. Grinning even around Jack's tongue, he popped Jack's fly and tugged down the zipper. He pulled down the waistband of Jack's underwear, baring his erection, and Jack suddenly seized his wrist.

"Wait."

 _No! Damnit,_ Gabriel almost shouted the words out loud. He froze obediently, but kissed Jack softly again and again on the lips. "It's okay, Jack," he pleaded. "It'll be like it was."

"No it's not like it was." Jack's expression was shuttered. "Gabe, it's not right."

"Why not?" Gabriel snapped, true anger rising inside him. "If I disgust you that much, then why'd you suck my dick last night? I'm surprised you didn't gag on it."

"What are you talking about?" Jack's voice rose with the same intensity of feeling. "Don't be a goddamn idiot."

"Me?" Gabriel shoved Jack off of him, and the other man sprawled onto the floor, dick shriveling in the cold. Gabriel flowed to his feet and began to pace. "How am I being an idiot because I want to touch you? Because I don't want you to give me a _pity fuck_ night after night? You really think that's what I want? You think you need to nobly sacrifice yourself and get me off, or I'll go back to Talon? Because the sex there was _soooo_ fucking great, let me tell you!"

Jack climbed to his feet, tucking himself into his pants. "Gabe, shut the hell up for a minute, will you?"

Gabriel snarled and rounded on Jack, tendrils of darkness rising from him. But he kept his mouth shut, glowering at the older-looking man who he knew couldn't see him.

Jack waited for a moment, then spoke. "You don't disgust me."

"Lies," Reaper hissed.

Jack scowled and took a deliberate step towards Gabriel. "I am not lying to you, damnit. I didn't want you to reciprocate because-- because it's _wrong_. You're my prisoner. I know you're trying to keep me happy, to prove yourself, to put the past behind you. It's not right of me to demand that of you, to expect you to get me off, no matter how much I might have wanted you to do it. I just--" He drew a breath and let it out, rubbing the scar on his nose. "You've had so much damn pain in your life lately, and you _did_ seem like you wanted something from me, so I bent my rules a little. I wanted to give you some pleasure, even in this fucked up situation, and the fact that you're so upset just shows that I went too far. Understand?"

Gabriel let those words sink into him, and despite himself, he felt himself calming. The fabric of himself flowed back into solidity and he shook his head to clear it of ghosts and cobwebs. "Is that really what's been going on in that self-righteous head of yours the last two nights?"

"Scout's honour," Jack grunted.

"Damnit Jack." Gabriel took a deep, cleansing breath. "Go _fuck_ yourself."

Jack jerked back in surprise. "What--"

"You think I'd whore myself out to you to get in your good graces?" Gabriel closed the distance between them, aware his feet weren't touching the ground and not caring. He caught Jack around the waist and kissed him roughly, deeply, _taking_ in Jack's very essence with the intensity of it. Jack yelped and squirmed, and ultimately _surrendered_ , moaning as Gabriel's tongue plundered his mouth just as long as he wanted to.

When Gabriel finally let up, Jack drew in a deep breath and let it out, gasping at the sudden rush of oxygen to his deprived tissues. "Jesus Christ," Jack said faintly. 

"Damn right." Gabriel waited, savouring the moment, then added. "I'm gonna suck your cock, now."

"Sounds... sounds like--" 

Gabriel didn't wait for Jack to figure out the most _Jack_ way to agree to get his dick sucked. He kicked Jack's feet out from under him and settled him down to the ground, cautious despite the move not to bash Jack around too much. Jack grunted when his ass hit hard stone anyway, and Gabriel took a moment to drape the thermal blanket over them both, before he worked his way down and settled between Jack's legs.

"Gabriel, you--"

"If you tell me one more time I don't have to do this, Jack Morrison, I am going to punch you in the balls while I'm down here."

Jack groaned and dropped his head back against the wall with an audible thud. "I was gonna say," he growled. "You are the most stubborn bastard I've ever known."

"Love you, too, sweetie," Gabriel retorted. He tugged Jack's fly open again and drew him out of his pants, stroking slowly with gentle fingers and eliciting a startled groan from Jack. 

Best not to wait for Jack to over think things one more time. Gabriel opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around the semi-stiff prick, sucking gently and feeling it lengthen and harden on his tongue. He plunged his head downwards, until the long cock bumped the back of his throat. Bonus, he no longer had to breathe - that would make things easier.

He swallowed around the head of Jack's cock, and Jack yelped like he'd been delivered an electric shock.

"God, Gabe," he babbled. "Goddamnit." And, most importantly. "I missed you, you asshole."

Gabriel closed his eyes and pleasured his lover and oldest friend. He sucked and licked and even nibbled lightly at the head of Jack's cock, making him moan and writhe with ecstasy. Gabriel drove him onwards towards climax with almost ruthless efficiency. Later, if they had a later, there would be time and time for gentler lovemaking. Now, he wanted to prove that he still knew Jack's body like his own.

As Jack's breathing began to rise and stutter, Gabriel slid his hand up under his shirt and scraped lines into his skin. Jack yelled and arched his back, orgasm striking him with full force. Gabriel smirked around the cock in his mouth, easily swallowing the fluid he had known would be coming. Jack had always been a sucker for a good clawing.

When he'd suckled and licked at Jack's cock as long as he could, continuing to stimulate his prey until he was soft in Gabriel's mouth and Jack could only moan and squirm like a broken man, Gabriel finally took pity on him. He raised his head and gently tucked Jack back into his pants, zipping him up and then scooting up to sit next to him. He dragged Jack close and Jack tucked himself against him like they were made to fit together.

"Feeling better?" Gabriel asked.

Jack made a soft, indistinct noise of contentment, then roused himself a little. "Do you--"

"I'm good," Gabriel said. Sure, he could have gladly gotten off, but it was Jack's turn. He was fine with letting it go for tonight. The thrill of victory was more than enough pleasure for tonight. "Go to sleep."

Jack sighed and cuddled in close, and did exactly that.

~ ~ ~

Jack slept like the dead, totally unconscious to the world, warm and comfortable in the arms of his oldest friend. At some point, he woke to Gabriel shaking his shoulder and he opened his eyes to complete darkness. "What time izzit?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"It's just after dawn," Gabriel said. "The snow's stopped," he said. "We'd better get a move on." Jack wasn't sure he wanted to know how he knew that, especially since he'd claimed to need a clock back in his cell.

Gabriel chivvied him into having a cold breakfast, fussing over him and pushing the package into his hands while Jack was still trying to wake up. Jack grunted irritably as he considered his mental map once more, downing a stimulant pack and then chasing it down with a protein biscuit. "We were supposed to get to the road hours ago," he muttered bitterly. 

"We'll make better time when we can see," Gabriel assured him. Jack knew he was right, though he also knew it wouldn't make up for the delay. Still, he supposed they hadn't had a choice. 

Fed and somewhat alert as the stims did their job, Jack squeezed himself back out of the cave entrance, and stepped blinking into a clear, crisp day. The sun was just peeking over the mountains to the east, and sparkled on the new-fallen snow. He zipped up his jacket and shoved a couple of hand warmers into his pockets.

Gabriel was carrying all their gear, including his pulse rifle, giving Jack the freedom to keep his hands warm and set their pace. It was a better arrangement than the night before, he had to grudgingly admit, and though Jack still suffered from the altitude, they made better time.

Jack did have a lot to think about, though, as they walked. He felt awkward about the message he'd been sending to Gabriel, and wondered if he'd been dressing selfishness up as selflessness. Despite all his best efforts to do the right thing, it had just made him feel so happy to be intimate with Gabriel again, and he feared in hindsight that that had been his real motivation.

The best thing he could have done would have been not to send mixed messages, he decided, but the damage was already done. Gabriel had taken it as rejection, and he couldn't compound that by truly rejecting him now. 

Besides, Gabriel seemed much better. He was downright cheerful, striding across the snow with his shoulders thrown back and his head high. Weirdly, allowing him to pleasure Jack had apparently had a positive impact on his mood. Jack tried not to feel too relieved by that. Better to focus on the mission for now, and figure out his boundaries later.

After several hours of walking, when the sun was high overhead and the snow had started to melt in earnest, they topped a rise and spotted the road. It was a two-lane paved highway, left without much maintenance, it seemed, since the Omnic wars. Nepal's human government had fallen during the war, and the remains of the country was largely controlled by peaceful Omnics to this day, including the Shambali monks, who paid little attention to governance. 

In practice, it operated more like a collection of enclaves than a real country - which was what had allowed Talon to move in and set up shop. Even from here, Jack could see the potholes and cracks left from several decades of freeze-thaw cycles, though he could also see places where someone had attempted to patch things up.

The two men paused and peered down at their destination through binoculars. "Looks like someone's been maintaining that road," Jack commented. "Just doing a shitty job of it. I can see potholes big enough to drop an OR-14 into."

"Talon keeps it up just enough to bring trucks through from China if they need them," Gabriel said with a shrug. He got to his feet and started down the hill, and Jack followed behind him. "Most of the equipment is brought by plane, so they don't need the road to be in great condition, just passable. They allow it to stay pretty rough, to discourage travel, especially from the Omnic government people."

The necessity to conserve his breath for walking caused Jack to fall silent as he picked his way down, setting his feet carefully on the damp rocks so he wouldn't slip again. His ankle felt all right, at least, which meant he hadn't hurt it too badly. He still probably could benefit from some time in a biotic field, and he made a mental note to throw one down when they took a break.

"We should hitch a ride," Gabriel said suddenly. "Make up some time."

"Are you nuts?" Jack grunted. "We're supposed to be on a stealth mission, and we don't exactly look like hippie backpackers."

Gabriel snorted. "I don't mean stand by the road in the open and stick our thumbs out. I mean stow away inside a passing truck."

There was nowhere on the road between where they were and their destination to stop, which meant that any trucks they encountered would be moving at normal road speed - or close to it, allowing for the state of the road. Jack pictured himself trying to run along the side of the road and catch a passing truck, somehow without blowing out a lung, getting run over, or being seen, and snorted.

"How the hell do you propose--" Then he stopped, a realization hitting him. "You want to get into the truck using your, your..."

"Wraith form," Gabriel said. "I can do it, if we time it right. No one will see us coming."

Jack rubbed his nose and closed his eyes for a second. His heart rebelled against the idea of using Gabriel's Reaper abilities at all. "We can walk," he said. "We'll make it."

"Right, we'll walk all day and night," Gabriel said sarcastically. "Slip into the city _probably_ without being seen. Somehow without using my abilities then, too. And somehow take out an entire Talon facility without them, on top of that. Were you planning on just pretending I don't have them for this entire mission?"

 _Yes,_ Jack thought. "No," he said. 

"I know we _could_ do it," Gabriel said. "But should we?"

 _....No,_ Jack thought, but the word stuck in his throat. 

"We're running the mission with one hand tied behind our backs, Jack," Gabriel went on as Jack said nothing.

"I have a plan to get into the city without using your abilities, and it's a good plan," Jack gritted out. "We can do this without them."

Gabriel said nothing for several minutes. They walked along an old steam bed, currently dry due to the season, but in the spring it would probably be filled with rushing water. By Jack's calculations, the road would soon come back into sight, and they would be close enough that a decision would have to be made. 

His original plan called for a long walk - in the day by necessity - where they would have to find shelter and hide any time a truck or traveler came near. With their several hour delay, and the possible further delays caused any time they had to hide, there was no telling how late they'd be reaching the borders of the city. If they were too late, it was possible his contact would leave, either to avoid detection, or because he had given up on them. That would make entering the city and completing the mission even more difficult.

"If you let me do this, we'll be hours early instead of late," Gabriel said softly. "We won't have to worry about getting caught. We might find ourselves driven right to Talon's front door."

"We can't just drive up to Talon's front door," Jack said. "We are meeting someone outside of the city."

Gabriel startled - as well he might. Jack had left that detail out of the mission briefing. "Who are we meeting?"

Jack didn't reply. He was starting to huff and puff from the walk, and talking was getting increasingly difficult.

Gabriel waited several seconds, then grunted with annoyance. "Fine, well we could still get a lot closer to the city by driving and be on time or early for your--"

"Fine," Jack growled, the word coming out soft as he struggled for breath.

"Huh?"

" _Fine_ , I said. Yes, we can use your plan. Get us on the truck safely using whatever method you think will work. We'll disembark close to the city, and make our way to the rendezvous from there."

Gabriel paused, then said cheerfully, "Great."

Jack grunted in response, and then fell silent, concentrating on his breathing. 

Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before they reached the road. They found a collection of boulders and scrubby bushes where they would be concealed from any approaching vehicles from either direction, and settled down to wait. Jack didn't dare set his biotic field here, so close to the road, where the glow might attract attention, so he stretched out his legs and massaged his calves with his fingers instead.

Gabriel crouched down, still as a cat, and waited.

"You should eat something," Gabriel said after a few silent minutes.

"I'm okay for now," Jack assured him. "I'll eat on the truck."

"Hmm." There was something about Gabriel's rumble that sat poorly with Jack, and it wasn't just the mother henning. He peered at the other man, and saw his posture - unnaturally still, leaning forward as if in anticipation, his eyes alight with a kind of desire he hadn't seen since Numbani. 

Jack opened his mouth to ask him what was going on in his head, though he wasn't sure how to phrase the question. Was it weird that Gabriel looked so...excited, or was that just Jack's paranoia coming to the fore? He wasn't used to fighting alongside anyone anymore, and this was the first real test of their mission. Their first encounter with an actual agent of Talon, though that person might not be knowingly working for the organization.

Before he could voice anything, he heard the sound of an approaching motor. He shifted up, moving into a ready pose, and peered between the branches of a bush. A semi-truck trundled up towards them, heading for the city. It slowed to navigate around a large pot hole that forced it into the oncoming lane.

Jack tensed to move, but Gabriel was faster. He grabbed Jack around the waist and faded to mist. Jack found himself plunged into complete darkness instantly, and he realized that Gabriel had sunk into the ground. The earth whizzed by them, and there was a flash of light as they erupted from under the ground right behind the truck. Jack still couldn't breathe, but Gabriel didn't hesitate. He poured them through the rear door of the truck, navigating deftly between the steel plates and through the locking mechanism.

Then they were inside, and Jack could breathe again. Gabriel set him down gently and Jack gasped, drawing in deep lungfulls of breath. It had probably been only a few seconds, but the trauma of turning insubstantial seemed to affect Jack more than the time holding his breath could account for.

He sat for a while, leaning up against a crate in the darkness, while Gabriel hovered over him. "You okay?"

"Fine," Jack said after a moment, and this time he meant it. "We made it."

"Told you we would. Now you can just hunker down and rest. We'll be there before you know it." Gabriel straightened up and moved away. Jack tracked him by the sound of his footsteps - at least he wasn't floating right now.

Something about his phrasing twigged Jack and he chewed over it for a moment, before Gabriel spoke up again. "Looks like this is a weapons shipment. The labels are in code." 

Jack grimaced. "Great. That's perfect. So they're receiving a bunch of weapons just _as_ we head into the city."

"Seems like they're gearing up for something," Gabriel agreed. "It might be that they're ready to strike at the Shambali. Once these weapons are in there, the word could be given at any time."

Jack felt his body go cold at the revelation. "We're here not a moment too soon."

"You're right. But if they get these weapons, it might be too late," Gabriel said thoughtfully. He opened the duffel and rummaged inside. Abruptly, he dropped Jack's pulse rifle and tac visor into his lap. "Sit tight. I'm going to take care of this."

"Hang on, what?" Jack pushed himself up to his feet, clutching the equipment to his chest. "What do you mean?"

Gabriel stepped in close and put a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Then he turned to mist, and disappeared.

"Goddamit, Gabriel!" Jack yelled into the empty cargo trailer.


	18. Chapter 18

The Reaper left his charge behind and flowed through the cargo towards his quarry. As he moved, he shed his long jacket, leaving it crumpled in a pile not far from Jack, and wrapped himself in a different covering, a cloak made of mist and darkness. He pulled out his mask from where he had tucked it into the back of his belt, and put it on.

He might have tried to tell himself that he hadn't meant to hide the fact that he'd recovered his mask from Jack, but that would be a lie. After leaving Jack's bedroom, the morning before leaving on the mission, he had performed some reconnaissance, knowing he had a bit of time before someone would come for him. He had found the mask in a storage locker and taken it, hiding it under his shirt and slipping it into the duffel bag when he'd had an opportunity.

He'd had a feeling it would come in handy, but knew that Jack would lose his shit if he asked for it outright.

And he'd been right - it was exactly what he needed right now.

When he materialized in the passenger seat next to the driver, he grabbed the steering wheel in one gloved hand, and caught the driver by the back of the neck with the other to hold him still. The man jerked at the wheel, and likely would have driven them right off the road in his shock and terror, but the firm grip of the Reaper on the wheel prevented that catastrophe.

"Drive," Reaper hissed. 

"Oh my god, oh my god," the man babbled in Cantonese.

"Be quiet."

The driver fell silent, breathing hard, tears starting up in his eyes and his lower lip trembling. Gabriel took a look around, and glanced at the GPS display. They were two hours out from the city. Plenty of time.

"W-what, what do you want from me?" the driver whimpered. 

"I told you to drive," Reaper replied. "You're escorting me to the city."

"Y-yes, sir. I-I'm sorry, I didn't know you were on board--"

"That's because it wasn't necessary for you to know."

The fact that the man had recognized him immediately told Gabriel everything he needed to know. The weapons in the back had already suggested it to him, but that was confirmation. This wasn't some random courier who had been engaged to ship supplies into the city. This was a Talon agent. A cargo like this wouldn't have been trusted to anyone else, but his knowledge of the Reaper was the nail in the coffin.

Still, best to be sure. He removed his hands from his prey and the wheel, and saw him relax minutely. "How long have you worked for Talon?" Gabriel asked.

"Ah... five years, sir," he said proudly, likely thinking that they were now making small talk, that he had escaped death. They were on the same side, after all. 

"You've been a driver all that time?"

"Yes, yes I have."

"You know what's on the manifest for this trip?" 

There was a short pause, as the man clearly tried to decide if there was some reason he shouldn't know. "I, well, they showed it to me when they loaded it up," he said defensively. "Is-- is that not okay?"

"Of course it's okay."

The man swallowed, and focused on the road. His knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel. Gabriel sat in the passenger seat, watching their icon creep down the road on the GPS, and the city as it came closer on the screen. Up ahead through the windshield the city came into view as well, a hamlet with a single large building that was five stories tall, surrounded by houses and family-owned businesses, all nestled along the low slope of a mountain. The airport was little more than a paved field, a windsock flapping overhead and a few small planes dotted around the only indications of its function. 

Reaper's eyes narrowed as he spotted one additional detail. A large drop-ship hulked in the centre of the field. He recognize the ship - it was a model Talon used occasionally, when they needed to move large numbers of troops.

His suspicions were correct. They were on the edge of a big attack. Likely that ship was intended to carry the weapons in this truck, and troops, up the mountain to the monastery within hours of their arrival.

That would also mean that some higher ups in Talon would likely be there. Doomfist was his bet. The man loathed Omnics, and loved a bloody battle. 

This was excellent - he and Jack would stop a major attack as well as hopefully take out one of Talon's most prominent members. He felt his blood rise in anticipation, and he leaned forward eagerly, watching the road and the city beyond with sharp eyes.

But Jack had told him they couldn't just go into the city. It was tempting to order the driver to go straight to his destination. They could come out shooting, take Talon by surprise, but that was going too far. Instead, he peered into the gathering darkness until he saw what he was looking for - a side road that led out to some houses some distance from the main city.

"Turn right, right there," he ordered. 

"I...but I have a schedule--"

Reaper turned and snarled at him. "Do as I tell you!"

The man cried out in terror and braked, turning the wheel in a hand over hand motion. The truck slowed and made the turn, bumping and jostling along the gravel road.

Reaper gave him three minutes. "Now stop."

The man swallowed and braked, and the truck rolled to a halt. They sat for a moment, illuminated by the dashboard lights. Sunset came quickly in the mountains, and the sun was already behind them, though it wasn't even that late. Reaper liked it.

"Please, sir. I-I don't know what you think I've done wrong, but--"

"Stop sniveling. Get out of the truck."

The driver swallowed a sob and opened the door with trembling hands. The man fell as much as stepped out of the vehicle. Reaper turned to mist and followed him, landing on the gravel. He gave him a shove, and the man finished his fall, sprawling full length on the ground. He curled into a shaking ball, holding his head in his hands.

"Please, please don't. Please, Mr. Reaper, I'm loyal to Talon. Whatever you've heard, it's not true!"

Reaper bent, and twisted his head with one savage move. His neck broke with a satisfying snap and his pleas fell silent.

Reaper released the body and it collapsed like a broken marionette. He straightened up and stood, hand spread, drinking in the moment. It was a poor death, too quick and not violent enough, but gunshots would have echoed off their surroundings and could have been heard if someone was close enough, and if the man had begun screaming, that also could have been overheard. 

Nevertheless, he felt invigorated.

He looted the man's body for anything of use, then rolled it down the nearby ravine. Then he moved to the back of the truck. He removed his mask and shoved it into the back of his belt again. "It's me, Jack," he called out. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, to see Jack standing right inside, tactical visor glowing in the darkness and his pulse rifle at the ready.

Gabriel grinned. "Hey there!"

"What the hell happened? Why are we stopped?"

"Killed the driver," Gabriel said agreeably, and leaped up into the truck. He found his coat and pulled it on, hiding both his shotguns and the mask from view. "We couldn't let him deliver the weapons to Talon. By the time we got there, we'd be screwed."

He turned to Jack, who was watching him. Once again, the tac visor made it impossible to see Jack's expression, but he had the feeling that he was about to be a total buzz kill. 

"So where are we meeting your friend?" Gabriel asked, hoping to forestall the telling-off that Jack was clearly spoiling to deliver. 

Jack paused for a moment, then groaned and shook his head. "We need to hide the truck, or destroy it. Did you think about that?"

"Or we meet your friend and drive into the city _in_ the truck," Gabriel returned.

Jack considered that. "That'll work." He stepped off the truck and looked around. "Rendezvous point is three miles that way," he said, pointing down the road in the direction the truck was already facing.

"That's easy enough, then," Gabriel said, and headed for the cab. The motor was still running.

Jack shut the trailer doors and climbed into the passenger seat. Gabriel threw the truck into gear and they headed down the road.

"Never do that again," Jack growled, leaning on the armrest and glaring moodily out the window.

"What, save our asses? Not to mention a bunch of monks? There's a troop carrier at the airport. They're hours from leaving to attack the Shambali."

Jack grunted unhappily, but didn't continue the argument.

Gabriel drove on, humming happily under his breath.

~ ~ ~

Jack sat next to Gabriel, peering out into the darkness. Gabriel had killed a Talon agent. Or at least, he claimed to have done so. That was a good thing, right? He had prevented the weapons from being delivered into Talon's hands, hadn't compromised the mission, and had eliminated a threat. Ten years ago, Jack wouldn't have questioned any of this. The style was pure Gabriel, though the methodology had changed slightly.

But none of it sat well with him, and he couldn't put his finger on why, other than the obvious possibility that he had instead sent the driver off with a message to Talon.

But the chances of that were nil. Jack had taken a good look around and there was nowhere a man could have hidden himself in the few seconds between when they stopped and when Jack was released from the trailer. Unless he had jumped from the moving truck a few miles back - unlikely if he didn't want to break his legs - then Gabriel was telling the truth.

"What'd you do with the body?" he asked suddenly.

"Threw it down the ravine," Gabriel said without any hesitation. Jack nodded, and lapsed into silence again.

Eventually, he realized that Gabriel was driving without any headlights on. He resisted the urge to rub his scar, in part because the tac visor made it impossible. He had made a mistake, he realized now. He hadn't fully investigated the abilities Gabriel had, not to mention his mentality, before throwing themselves into the mission. In part, this was intentional - he had wanted to use the mission to learn how Gabriel would be in the field.

But he had also hoped that everything would just be the way it once was, and it definitely wasn't. He had considered the possibility that Gabriel would betray them. And the alternative had been that he would be Gabriel. Jack hadn't thought sufficiently about what might happen if Gabriel was different, and _also_ on Jack's side, but he should have.

He stewed on that in silence as they drove up the road, then finally spoke. "We're here. See if you can pull in behind that barn, to keep out of sight.”

"Aye aye, Commander," Gabriel said, and turned the wheel. The little collection of buildings had once been a farm, though what they might have farmed up here in this rocky, barren land, Jack couldn't imagine. There was no sign of it now, except for the barn and a couple of buildings, which looked completely abandoned.

Gabriel manoeuvred the vehicle around back of the barn and threw it into park.

"Kill the engine," Jack said, and Gabriel complied. Jack opened the door and got out of the truck, then headed for the barn, Gabriel hot on his heels. 

Jack could tell that Gabriel was burning with curiosity, but it would be satisfied soon enough. A side door hung half-open, swinging drunkenly on its hinges in the wind. The creak-bang, creak-bang of the door was the only sound, and it rang out like gunshots every few seconds. Jack pushed the door open wider and slipped through into the gloomy, dusty interior of the barn.

"Nice place you've got here," Gabriel said, glancing around them. A few rusted out pieces of farm equipment lay like corpses scattered about around them. Otherwise, the place was as still as a crypt. "How long do you think we'll need to wait?"

"Not long," said a new voice, from up above. A few beams criss-crossed the upper reaches of the cavernous space, load bearing pieces of wood that held the walls in place. A green glow lit from the speaker and he leaped down lightly, performing a flip and landing noiselessly on the concrete floor. Genji straightened, turning his visor with the V-shaped light from Jack to Gabriel and back.

"It is good to see you alive and well, Commander Morrison," Genji said. "When I first heard you were coming, I scarcely believed my ears."

"Good to see you, too, Genji," Jack said, though he twitched at being called 'Commander' once again. From Genji, at least, he wasn't going to get an angry lecture, or so it seemed.

Gabriel's jaw was on the floor. "Genji?" he exclaimed. "I hardly recognized you."

Jack grimaced. He had already gotten the information that Genji had chosen to cover himself with even more machinery than before, when he had spoken with Genji via a grainy satellite hookup between the Watchpoint and Nepal. He couldn't blame Gabriel for being surprised.

Genji turned his visor to face Gabriel and stared at him for a long moment. Then there was a hiss. Two cylinders protruded from his back as air released, and he pushed up the eye shield, looking Gabriel eye to eye. "Good evening, Commander Reyes."

Gabriel shifted his weight. "Guess you've heard the news about me."

"Indeed." Genji flipped the visor closed again. "I was told of your time with Talon, that you were induced to join them by Moira, who betrayed us all. You have lived the past few years as the Reaper, an attack dog for Talon, most often sent to murder former Overwatch Agents."

Gabriel's tone was wary. "That's right..."

Genji approached him, his tread unhurried. He raised a hand towards him, and Gabriel tensed visibly. He wasn't the only one, Jack felt the tension ratchet up, and he took a step forward, ready to defend Gabriel if Genji attacked him. 

But Genji only gripped Gabriel's shoulder. His voice was low and calm as he spoke. "How you must have suffered over the past few years. I am grateful that you've returned to us, Commander Reyes. I was pleased, when I heard from Commander Morrison, that he had rescued you, and that your rehabilitation had begun."

Gabriel's mouth worked for a second, and he dropped his hands to his side again. "Um, thanks. I'm...I'm glad you're okay, too." His eyes darted to Jack, brows slightly furrowed, and Jack shrugged.

Genji threw his head back and laughed, which was even weirder. "Yes, I have changed. It's all right, you both can say so. My time with the Shambali has been...transformative."

Gabriel spoke in a tone of revelation. "Is that where you've been-- _that's_ why you're here?"

"Yes," Genji said cheerfully, though his mask lent his voice a strange, inhuman overtone. "I have been scouting this Talon outpost while I awaited your arrival, ensuring there would be no surprises." He turned to Jack and bowed. "As you have likely already seen, there are troops massing for an attack upon the Shambali. I await your orders, Commander."

"Don't worry, Genji, we won't let that troop carrier lift off." Jack jabbed a thumb in the direction of the truck. "We commandeered a truck filled with weapons intended for the attack. They'll be delayed while they wait for it. I figure we can use the truck as a Trojan horse to get us close, then strike."

Genji nodded. "Acceptable." He turned to Gabriel. "You will drive? They are most likely to recognize you as a friend."

"Not in those clothes, they won't," Jack said, grimacing. The last thing he wanted was for Gabriel to dress up as Reaper, and so it was probably for the best that they hadn't brought any of the clothes he'd been wearing in Numbani, including the mask.

Except that Gabriel was even now sheepishly pulling that mask out from under his jacket. "I think I can make it work," he said. He looked at Jack. "Ah...sorry."

"Damnit, Gabriel," Jack hissed. "What are you playing at this time?"


	19. Chapter 19

Jack didn't talk to Gabriel for a couple of hours after the latter had admitted to bringing the mask along. Well, that was inaccurate - Jack yelled at him for a good ten minutes, stomped off, and then gave him the silent treatment for the couple hours after that. He spoke to Genji, obviously, and within Gabriel's hearing, but he didn't direct any statements towards Gabriel at all.

In hindsight, Gabriel couldn't really blame him. Much. 

Genji, for his part, directed the occasional look at Gabriel that might have been intended to be reassuring, or pitying, or maybe he was just staring at him from time to time. It was impossible to tell with the visor down and his face completely covered, but his voice was no less calm and serene when talking to Gabriel than Jack, so Gabriel chose to interpret things such that at least some solidarity came from that corner.

They - or well, Jack, with some input from Gabriel and Genji - discussed exactly how they would come at Talon. Before getting back into the truck, they inventoried the contents - with Gabriel supplying the means to interpret the coded labels. By the time they finished the inventory, Jack had thawed slightly, and occasionally pointed comments in Gabriel's direction, though he often caught himself and turned away pointedly after doing it.

Finally, close to midnight, they were ready.

Gabriel cloaked himself in darkness once more and settled into the driver's seat, placing his mask onto his face again. The familiar feeling of wearing it wasn't wholly comfortable, but it placed him into the role. He knew just what to do.

Genji and Jack were in the rear of the truck, hidden from view. They had rigged up a release that could be pulled from the inside, allowing them to open the doors themselves. They would spend the time while Gabriel drove into the city performing the last minute preparations.

Gabriel put the truck into gear, navigated back onto the road, and drove towards Talon. 

The city didn't have walls or really any protection. Their protection was isolation, and observation from strategic points in the city. As Gabriel navigated down the road, he knew that there would be people stationed in various places throughout the city, watching his approach. But other than the lateness of his arrival, he expected that there shouldn't be anything particularly suspicious about the truck, and that it should pass without much notice.

He was wrong. Moments after he entered the city, two men stepped out of a house and flagged him down. They were carrying heavy rifles, though they held them in a ready position, the barrels pointed downwards and to the side.

Gabriel stopped reluctantly and rolled down the window as one of them approached the driver's side.

"Where've you been? You were supposed to arrive hours ago," the man demanded. He looked Nepalese, but spoke English flawlessly. 

Reaper leaned out of the window. "We ran into a snag," he growled.

The guard choked in terror and surprise at the sight of him. "Reaper! Ah... w-where's the driver?"

"Left him behind," Reaper purred. "Where's the cargo headed?"

The second guard approached from the side, obviously not aware of this development. "Hey Dhyansh, did he get drunk and pass out behind the wheel again-- Oh _shit_."

The first guard hissed at the second one to be silent, but too late. The newcomer stopped dead, paling. "What's he doing here?"

Reaper was getting bored. "I _said_ , where's the cargo headed?" 

The first man, Dhyansh, pointed with a trembling hand towards the airport. "Higher ups said when you got here to go straight there. They're waiting to load the cargo and they'll be leaving right after that."

"And where are the higher ups right now?" Reaper asked softly.

"O-overseeing the final details before they launch, I think?" Dhyansh's voice was little more than a squeak.

"Thank you," Reaper said politely. He rolled up the window and pulled away, headed towards the airport. The two man stood by the side of the road, watching him go.

Behind him, he heard a soft clanking noise as the trailer door opened a crack, and then watched in the side mirror as both men received a silent shuriken to the throat and collapsed.

_Good._

He turned onto the side road and spotted the drop-ship up ahead. The doors were still open and troops crawled around the area like ants, some still loading cargo or doing drills, but the majority just standing around looking bored. Most of them were likely inside the ship, but considering how long they'd had to wait, Doomfist had probably given them leave to stretch their legs from time to time.

It wouldn't matter. They were close enough for what Reaper intended.

He killed the headlights, pressed his foot down on the pedal, and watched the speedometer slowly climb towards the red zone.

As the truck drove up off the road and onto the tarmac of the airport, some of the troops began to become aware that he was coming. The truck roared, the engine pushed to its limits, as Reaper bore down on the drop-ship.

"You'd better be out of there, Jack," he murmured to himself, eyes fixed on his target. 

He leaned forward, eager, but he caught only the barest glimpse of terror on the faces of the troops as he flashed past them. Then he reached his destination.

The truck slammed into the side of the drop-ship, close to the engine compartment. The charges Genji and Jack had set in the trailer went off at the impact, turning the truck from a battering ram into a devastating fireball.

As the heat licked at him, Reaper faded to mist and floated safely out of the inferno, landing some distance from the conflagration. He pulled his guns and began to fire in all directions, buckshot striking down the few troopers who hadn't been instantly incinerated. 

He laughed as he killed, each death buoying him up, slaking his hunger and yet leaving him wanting more. From across the field he heard more sounds of battle, the pulse rifle firing and the occasional louder blast of a helix rocket. With all the surviving troops down on the pavement, and the drop-ship's flames becoming uncomfortable, Reaper dropped his guns on the ground, pulled out a second set, and raced towards the sounds.

A green glow lit up the night, and Reaper nodded with pleasure, watching from a distance as Genji tore through a line of troopers. Jack stood on top of a parked vehicle, firing his pulse rifle down at other troops and sending those who didn't die immediately into panic and confusion. 

Reaper came out of the darkness towards them, and fired his shotgun point blank into the face of a troop commander. She didn't even have time to scream before she fell, a spatter of blood hitting the pavement at Reaper's feet.

There was a reprieve, as most of the troops had been decimated - largely by the truck, but the remainder by gun and sword.

"I will scout on ahead," Genji called out, and he headed towards the main Talon building - the only building of any size in the city. Quick as ever, the cyborg ninja vanished into the darkness. This, too, was part of the plan. He would infiltrate the building first, pick off any stragglers to thin the resistance, while Jack and Gabriel took care of the majority of whoever was left. Once Genji had located Doomfist - or whoever else was heading up this operation - he would return, and they would all three go after the leader together.

Once Genji had gone, Jack leaped down from the vehicle, joining Reaper on the tarmac. "You okay?" he asked.

"Fine," Reaper purred. He looked Jack up and down, but the other man looked none the worse for wear after leaping from the back of a speeding truck and then fighting a bunch of enemies. His visor glowed in the darkness and he held his pulse rifle at the ready, scanning the darkness for the next wave of enemies. 

And soon, they came. Bullets sang out of the darkness as a phalanx of troops came running towards them. Reaper hissed with pleasure and launched himself into the fray, firing his guns into the faces of his prey. Even as he fought, he watched Jack doing the same. The other man was no less brutal in battle, though he stood back more and often chose to take the high ground, firing down into groups of enemies from a tactically sound position. He was a beautiful, perfect agent of death.

As the battle drew out, and more enemies arrived, Jack and the Reaper found themselves fighting at times back to back, raining bullets down upon their hapless prey. As Reaper had known it would be from the moment he saw Jack in Numbani, it was glorious.

As the battle began to wind down, fewer enemies approaching from Talon headquarters, a bullet came from an unexpected direction - from a secondary group of enemies who were trying to flank them. Reaper felt the bullet strike him before he had noticed the new threat. It tore into his shoulder, drawing a line of agony which exploded with pain as the bullet struck bone and shredded muscle. He snarled in rage and turned to face the direction the bullet had come from.

"Gabe!" Jack exclaimed. He fired off his rockets and three of the flankers were blasted into so much meat. The others turned and ran, and Reaper pursued them, laughing as he cut them down.

He paused over the body of the last one, head swivelling as he searched for new threats. Jack came barrelling towards him, rifle held to his chest. "Gabe? Are you okay? Let me see."

"I'm fine," Reaper snorted. 

"That was a direct hit-- what the hell?" Jack touched him on the shoulder, exactly where the bullet had torn through him. Reaper obligingly allowed it, the inky black darkness of his robe fading away so that bare skin could be seen. Bare, unblemished skin, though the shirt around it was torn and soaked with his blood.

"I heal when I kill," Reaper informed him. "Don't worry about it."

Jack looked up at him, then down at the place where the wound had been. "Damn." He glanced around. "Looks like they've pulled back for the moment."

Reaper nodded. He smiled at Jack, at his companion, his partner, though he knew the other man couldn't see his expression. "I told you it'd be good."

Jack stiffened and looked away, and Reaper couldn't read his expression.

For a few moments, there was silence, except for the crackle of flames. Then Reaper heard Her voice.

"Well, well," said Moira. She approached them from the direction of the Talon building. At the sound, Reaper whirled around, staring at the one person who could undo him like no one else could.

She held a glowing purple ball in the palm of Her hand, and had a thoughtful, _gleeful_ expression on Her face. "You have caused a lot of destruction tonight, my dear. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Reaper couldn't speak. He stood still, his claws flexing. Jack grabbed him by the arm, spoke the name of his former self, but he could scarcely hear him through the rushing of terror and _relief_ in his ears.

Moira only smiled when he didn't reply. She dismissed the orb, but kept Her hand raised into the air, beckoning instead. "Come here, my creation. Let me take a look at you."

"No!" snapped Jack, but Reaper went. 

He floated towards Her and She caught him by the chin, turning his head this way and that, then She smiled at Jack. "Do you see, how futile all of this has been? He could never betray me. He belongs to me, and only to me."

"You sick fuck," Jack snarled, raising his pulse rifle. Reaper acted instantly, moving to place himself between his lover and his mistress. Moira threw Her head back and laughed, the sound grating on his ears.

"There is nothing you can do, Morrison," She purred. Her hand rested on Reaper's shoulder, squeezing, as She leaned close to whisper in his ear. "You have been a naughty boy, but since you've returned to me, I forgive you."

"Thank you," he whispered, his throat so dry, the words scraped against it like leaves blowing across a gravestone.

"But you must do one more thing for me," She murmured. "Kill Jack Morrison."

He raised his shotguns and pointed them at Jack. Moira chuckled and moved aside, using a vehicle as cover so that Jack couldn't shoot Her. She stood two feet to Reaper's left, arms folded across Her chest, watching with eager pleasure.

"Shoot him, my beautiful creation," She called out, more than loud enough for Jack to hear. Reaper saw Jack tense, but his finger trembled on the trigger of his pulse rifle. Reaper wasn't sure Jack could shoot him.

Reaper could shoot Jack. He would shoot him in the head, and the blood would spray, painting the wall behind him as he fell. That was his purpose.

He was the bringer of Death.

"You don't have to do this, Gabe," Jack growled. "You don't have to listen to her."

"I do," Reaper said. "I belong to Her."

"You left her!" Jack snapped. 

"No he didn't," Moira said brightly. "Oh Jack, Jack, you fool. My dear boy here has never truly left my side. He contacted me long before tonight, and I instructed him to stay, to gather information, and to return to me when he was ready. Which is exactly what he has done."

"You're lying," Jack snarled.

"No," Reaper said. "She isn't."

Jack was silent for a moment, stunned. Then, incredibly, the pulse rifle dipped as he lowered it to point at the ground. "Gabe... please. If this is true, then when?"

Reaper's guns didn't lower an inch. "From your bedroom, the night before last," he said. "You have a personal, secured line I used from your computer, to bypass Athena. Then from the truck, after I killed the driver."

"God damnit," Jack whispered, his voice ragged. "Gabe, you-- I _trusted_ you."

"I know," Reaper said. "I'm sorry. It's over, it's too late for me." He spread his hands, the guns pointing towards the sky for a fraction of a second before he trained them back on Jack. "I'm a monster. I'm what she made me to be."

"Yes, you are," Moira purred. "And you're _glorious_."

"I don't believe you're a monster, Gabe," Jack said. "But if you do this now, then you will be."

Moira scoffed, and waved a hand. "I tire of this. My sweet creation, it's time. Kill Jack - I am sorry that he can't come back with us, but I do promise that I will make you a plaything that's to your liking."

"I wanted _him_ ," Reaper protested softly, though he knew Her mind was made up.

She shrugged. "It can't be helped. But have no fear. I've made another batch of your medicine. Soon, you won't even remember that he existed, and all of your pain will be gone."

Reaper sighed with relief. Yes, he had known She would take care of him. The pain of rejection, of loss would melt away once more. He wouldn't have to worry about what his former friends thought of him. He wouldn't have to fear anything, any longer. Not ever again.

"Go on, then," Moira urged him. "Fire."

But then he wouldn't ever see Jack again. He wouldn't be close to him. Couldn't feel his hands on him, or kiss him, or fight alongside him. No person could possibly replace him.

"What are you waiting for?" Moira hissed. "Do it."

Jack reached up and pulled off his tac visor. Reaper didn't understand why he did that, but perhaps Jack wanted the Reaper to see the hatred and anger in his eyes. 

Reaper looked him in the face, lined up the shot. Perhaps he would also see that delicious terror for one moment before he fired.

But he saw only sadness there, and loss. Jack stared at him, and Reaper finally understood the emotion he was seeing.

Forgiveness.

Reaper’s guns wavered. 

"Fire!" Moira commanded.

Reaper bared his teeth, lined up his shot again, and fired.

Moira's mismatched eyes widened with terror in the instant that he turned. He saw the moment of realization, but gave Her no time to react before he pulled both triggers, and fired two shotgun blasts point blank into Her face. 

His mistress dropped to the pavement with a sickening thud, so much ruined meat.

He dropped his guns to the ground, and sank down to his knees beside them, and screamed.


	20. Chapter 20

As he stared down the twin barrels of two enormous shotguns, Jack was certain, not for the first time in his life, that Gabriel was going to kill him. But this time, he made no effort to fight back. In that moment, looking past the yawning black pits of those barrels, into the darkness that was Gabriel's face behind his bone-white mask, Jack simply didn't want to fight him anymore.

Since the fall of Overwatch, Jack had had no goal, no plan, other than revenge and survival. He had spent every waking moment fighting, tooth and nail, towards both of those goals. 

In the last week, Jack had continued that fight. He had battled the Reaper in every way he could think of, from physical attacks, to psychological manipulation, to shielding himself behind a wall of professionalism and arbitrary rules. He had told himself he was trying to save Gabriel, but all it had done was bring them to this moment. This moment where Moira O'Deorain could merely crook one finger, and destroy Gabriel all over again.

And she had destroyed Jack at the same time.

There was nothing more he could do, so he dropped his rifle, removed his visor, and waited for Gabriel to come to the end of the road he had started down the moment he had allowed Moira to begin experimenting on him.

And in that moment, Jack found peace. There was a perverse relief in setting down his equipment and allowing something to happen to him without a battle, even if it was something terrible.

Even so, he flinched when the guns went off.

But there was no explosion of pain. No oblivion. He realized he had closed his eyes and he opened them again, confused, and saw Gabriel had turned to the side. His guns were smoking, and Moira had fallen to the ground. Jack could see her feet sticking out from behind the van she had used as cover, and she wasn't moving.

Gabriel crumpled to the ground like a broken toy, and howled. His hands covered his mask and he shook, screaming like a feral creature.

Jack ran to him. 

He dropped to his knees behind his lover and put his arms out to hold him, uncaring if Gabriel would lash out. He was done with keeping Gabriel at arms length. "Gabe, Gabe, it's okay. You did it." Jack scarcely could believe it. "You did it, Gabe. You're free."

Gabriel didn't lash out. He didn't even react. In a sense, he wasn't even there. Jack's arms passed through him like he was a ghost, and in the next instant, Gabriel had vanished, his screams cut off as if a door had slammed shut.

Jack found himself face-to-face with the pavement, hands braced on the ground, stunned. "Gabriel!" he shouted. "Reaper! Come back!"

But the night was silent, except for the distant sound of gunfire.

Oh right. Genji.

All Jack wanted to do was curl into a ball and mourn the final loss of his best friend, but there was no time for that. That habit of survival, of battle, was too strong. Grimly, Jack got to his feet. He put on his tac visor, retrieved his pulse rifle, and marched off towards the Talon building, leaving corpses in his wake.

He met up with Genji halfway there. The ninja came out of the darkness from above, landing lightly just to Jack's right. "I'm here," he said, as Jack began to turn towards him, and Jack relaxed. "Where is Reyes?"

"Gone," Jack said curtly.

"I see." Genji's tone was appropriately grave. "Moira is here."

"I know," Jack said. "She's dead."

"I am pleased."

Jack drew a breath. "Gabriel killed her."

Genji paused, then made a soft, startled noise, rendered strange by his robotic voice.

“We'll finish this ourselves," Jack said.

Genji nodded, and somehow Jack sensed that he understood more than could be conveyed by the expressionless visor. "Yes, Commander," was all he said.

Hours later, Jack and Genji drove out of Simikot into the light of the rising sun. Jack's ears were still ringing from the battle, but there was a heavy blanket of silence that Jack didn't know how to fill, and Genji seemed to have no interest in breaking. There was really only one topic on Jack's mind - Gabriel - but every time Jack considered saying anything more about it, his throat closed up. 

He saw now that his desire to save Gabriel had been stymied at every turn by Jack’s own fear and determination to protect himself. And in reality, Jack had wound up doing everything he could to drive Gabriel away. In the end, because of that, Gabriel hadn't seen Jack as a safe place to turn to. Instead, Gabriel had fled him, just when he needed Jack the most. 

The loss was even more painful this time than it had ever been before.

"Stop here," Genji said suddenly, as Jack approached a fork in the road. Jack pulled over and parked the car, gripping the steering wheel and staring sightlessly into the distance. 

"This where we part ways?" Jack asked hollowly.

"Yes," Genji said. The cyborg sat still, though, making no move to get out of the car. Finally, Jack glanced at him sidelong, and that seemed to prompt Genji to say something more. "Will you be returning to Overwatch?"

Jack twitched, and looked away. "I hadn't thought that far ahead, to be honest. I'll be going to the rendezvous. Tracer'll be here to pick us-- me, up, in a couple of days."

Genji nodded. "I hope that you remain with them. I think it's not good for you to isolate yourself, as you did before." He paused, and added with amusement. "Besides, we all know you're alive now. I'm not sure that many of them will be willing to leave you be."

Jack grunted, and freed a hand from the steering wheel to rub the scar on his nose. "You have a point," he grumbled. "What about you? You going back to the monks?"

"For now. I wish to reassure my master that the Talon threat has been lessened for the moment." Genji shrugged, an odd rolling of his metal shoulders. "But you will see me again, perhaps soon. My time of healing and passive inaction has come to an end. I feel the need to retake my place in the world and make a difference once more."

Jack hesitated, then nodded. "That's good."

Still, Genji didn't move for a long moment. "I... think you will see Commander Reyes again. What will you do?"

"I don't know," Jack said. His mind shied away from considering it. And frankly, he thought Genji was insane if he thought he would see Gabriel again, at least, in any form one could recognize as Gabriel Reyes. Clearly the act of killing his mistress had broken some last remaining thread inside him. Jack couldn't fathom what might be left. Sure, he could track Gabriel down using the nanobots Angela had administered, but he had no idea what find.

"I'm glad," Genji said.

Jack started and looked around, and Genji cocked his head. Somehow, Jack sensed that he was grinning at him. "I think it's good to keep an open mind. You don't know what state he'll be in when he comes to you."

Jack frowned. "I...guess so," he said cautiously.

Genji laughed kindly, then patted Jack on the shoulder. He opened the car door. "Be well, Commander. It was good to fight beside you once again."

"Same to you," Jack said, and realized that he meant it.

Genji closed the door and walked away. For a moment, Jack wondered if he intended to walk all the way back to the Shambali monastery, but instead of turning to head down the road Genji moved to a large boulder nearby. The boulder shimmered and vanished at Genji's approach, revealing a camouflaged hoverbike. Genji hopped onto it, waved to Jack, and then roared off up the road, leaving a plume of dust in his wake.

Jack put the car into gear and continued on his way. With Genji gone, the silence and loneliness closed in like a shroud once more, and by the time Jack reached the turn off that would lead towards the rendezvous point, he had never felt more miserable and alone.

It would be another few days before Tracer came to meet him. Jack could find himself a phone or satellite hook up and she could be here sooner, but the thought of doing that turned his stomach. He needed to be close to someone so desperately he wanted to weep, but the very idea of enduring the solicitous, kind, and familial company of Tracer or the other Overwatch agents for even a minute was horrifying to him. 

_Because there's just one person I want to be with,_ he thought to himself. 

Well, he did have a couple of days to sort himself out and find some equilibrium, decide if he was really going back. He flicked on the GPS system in the car and told it to search for a hotel. The computer informed him that there was a town not far away that had one, and he turned in that direction.

Two hours later he had checked into a shitty hotel. It had a bed and privacy, which was the main thing he craved, so he hadn't cared much about the exorbitant price nor the lack of amenities. He took a ground floor room at the end of the hall.

He'd been up for more than 24 hours without respite, but he didn't feel the exhaustion until he had actually keyed into the room and saw the bed with its greying sheets laid out in front of him. He locked and bolted the door, closed the curtains and barely bothered to take off his boots before collapsing onto it.

Some hours later, he woke to a whispering sound, like fabric across stone.

He sat bolt upright, his eyes open and his heart pounding. "Gabe?"

The room was dark, but not that dark. He could see the shifting cloud of mist in the shape of the Reaper. A moment later, Gabriel resolved into solidity, standing at the foot of the bed. 

He stared at Jack for a few moments, then reached up and removed the mask. "Hi, Jack," he said. His eyes were dark and uncertain, and didn't look directly at Jack, wandering to the side as if he were afraid to look at him.

Jack gazed at him for a long moment, every particle of his brain telling him to say something, and not to fuck things up again. Gabriel spoke first.

"I... I'm sorry," Gabriel said. "I know you don't want to see me, and I know even though I asked you to take me in, I never respected what that meant." His fingers curled into fists, his claws biting into his own palms. "I don't think I can stay sane the way things were, I just need you too much, and it hurts too much to be close to you and know that you all hate me. But I wanted to see you one last time, before--."

"Gabe stop," Jack said. "Please, I want you to stay, with me. Not as a prisoner, as my partner. The way it should've always been."

Gabriel stiffened and his head jerked over to look at Jack. His jaw dropped and his mouth stayed open for a few seconds after Jack had finished his little speech. Finally he closed it, and he swallowed. "I was going to shoot you."

"No, you weren't," Jack said.

"I'm Reaper, Jack." Gabriel spread his hands, and black mist rose from his palms. "I don't know if I can be fixed."

Jack slid off the bed, rising to his feet. "I don't care about that." Even as he said it, he realized it was true. "You are you, and none of us can go back to the people we were a decade ago. Reaper is a part of you, and that's just how it is. I can accept you, just like you are." He drew a breath. "The truth is, I'm as responsible for how this went down as you are. I kept you at arm's length instead of supporting you and giving you what you needed, when you were at your most vulnerable. I was afraid to admit that I need you just as much, because I was a damn coward. But I do. Gabe, I fucking need you with me. I'm not the man I should be, when I don't have you by my side."

Gabriel lowered his hands. They were inches apart, and Gabriel's eyes flicked to the side and down, shame a mask on his face. "I betrayed you," he whispered. "After everything you did to try to help me, I couldn't help myself. I didn't want to go back to her, but I couldn't stop myself from calling to her. That's not on you, it's on me. I should've told you." He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack reached out, and this time as his arms went around Gabriel, he was solid. Rigid, even. The tension in his body was palpable, and he trembled under Jack's touch. "I know," he said softly. "But I also know that I asked too much of you. I wanted you to stand on your own feet without anything to help prop you up. I expected something impossible." He leaned back a little, looking Gabriel in the face. "Tell me the truth. Is there anyone else, like Moira?"

Gabriel blinked. "You mean anyone else I'd feel like I need to report to? No, no one else. She was the only one."

Jack's paranoid self whispered that Gabriel could be selling him down the river, but the rest of him told that part of him to fuck off. Paranoid or not, he believed Gabriel's words were true this time.

"Gabriel," he said softly. "I forgive you for what happened today."

Gabriel let out a breath, like air being let out of a balloon. He sagged and Jack held him up, supporting him as he shuddered breathlessly into his shoulder. 

"I'm here," Jack said softly. "You're not alone in all this. I'm here, and I _do_ love you. I can't say if the others are going to forgive you, but no matter what, you do have me."

"God damn, I love you, Jack," Gabriel whispered.

Gabriel raised his head, and Jack pressed his lips to Gabriel's in a soft and heartfelt kiss. They stood there for long moments, chest to chest, and arms wrapped around each other, as they explored one another's lips anew.

Slowly, Gabriel's trembling eased. Jack felt it when he finally seemed to accept that this was real, that it wasn't going to be taken away again. In that moment, Gabriel gave a soft, low growl of desire, and grabbed Jack's ass, hoisting him up into the air and carrying him towards the bed. He dropped Jack onto his back on the bed hard enough to make the springs creak.

Jack looked up at him with what felt like a stupid, silly grin on his face, while Gabriel regarded him with something akin to a lion observing the juiciest zebra in the herd.

"You gonna get down here and fuck me, or what?" Jack asked.

Gabriel broke into a fierce grin. "Thought you'd never ask."

Jack's hands went to his own fly, but Gabriel batted his hands away. "Don't you dare. I've been waiting to unwrap you for a week."

"What am I, a present?" Jack grumped. 

"Yeah, you belong to me, remember?" Gabriel purred.

"Fuck off," Jack replied, but he grinned to soften the words, and Gabriel smiled back with relief.

The darkness that cloaked Gabriel melted away like fog, revealing the combat gear he was actually dressed in. Gabriel drew his guns and tossed them carelessly to the side, then began to undress, opening his belt, pulling his shirt off over his head, and then peeling off his jeans. Jack watched every movement eagerly.

It was taking too long. "You gonna get over here or what?" he demanded when Gabriel was finally standing gloriously naked before him. 

"Be patient, old man," Gabriel replied. He bent and slid one knee onto the bed between Jack's legs. "I'm running the show today." He slid his hands up Jack's stomach, pushing his shirt up, then stripped it off. With a contented sigh, he dragged his fingers back down, leaving pale red lines in his wake.

Jack grunted and bucked under the treatment, his breathing hitching in his chest. "Bite me," he gasped.

Gabriel bared his sharp teeth and leaned over him, tugging Jack's shirt up over his head and tossing it aside. "Be careful what you ask for," he said. "I might take you literally."

Jack glared up at him, and raised his head a few inches. "That was an order."

In for a penny, in for a pound. If he was going to have a lover with sharp teeth and claws, he might as well enjoy it. 

Gabriel's eyes widened, startled. He suddenly looked more uncertain, but he bent his head and nibbled at the side of Jack's neck. Jack groaned and tilted his head to the side, opening his throat to the sharp teeth. "Don't be a pussy," he murmured. "I'm not fragile."

"Fuck off, you are compared to me," Gabriel pointed out, but he set his teeth to Jack's shoulder harder, digging the points in just short of breaking the skin. 

Jack didn't hold back the reaction his body wanted to make, squirming with desire and gasping at the tantalizing mix of pleasure and pain. There _was_ something inherently dangerous about Gabriel now, and now that he wasn't trying to run from it, that danger made his heart pound and his skin heat like never before.

Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriel and dragged his own blunt nails down in turn. Gabriel growled against his shoulder, and bit him again, scraping the claws of both hands along Jack's sides. Jack gasped again, jerking up off the bed an inch before relaxing once more.

Finally, Gabriel seemed to believe that this was real. He gave another low, hungry growl and opened Jack's fly, as his mouth attacked Jack's chest. He kissed and nipped his way across Jack's skin until he reached a nipple, then set his teeth on it viciously, almost drawing blood. Jack yelped in a mixture of surprise and pleasure, and grabbed Gabriel by the back of the head when he would have pulled back.

"I _said_ , don't you fucking dare pussy out on me," Jack snapped.

Gabriel tugged his pants down to his thighs and gave him a shove, pushing Jack's hip over to one side just enough that he could deliver a stinging slap to his ass. "I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Let go." 

Reluctantly, Jack released his head. Gabriel reared up to kneel between Jack's legs, and then slid back off the bed, dragging Jack's pants and underwear off with him. He then stood for a few moments, observing him. 

Jack lay spreadeagled on the bed, staring up at Gabriel with increasing impatience and a touch of self-consciousness. "You like what you see?"

"You're beautiful," Gabriel said. And with that, he bent, kneeling onto the bed once more and sliding a hand up under Jack's lower back. Gabriel kissed him fiercely and hungrily, while Jack wrapped both legs around Gabriel's waist, his hips rising up off the bed under Gabriel's encouragement. 

"Lube," Jack growled between kisses. "Fucking hell, I didn't think--"

"No problem," Gabriel murmured. He kissed along Jack's jawline, leaving red marks in his wake with his teeth. 

"If you've got some bullshit about gun oil, because I don't know if you remember, but we _tried_ that once--"

"Jack," Gabriel said, a little more sharply. "Trust me."

Jack fell silent instantly. Gabriel grinned against his skin, and patted him on the ass again. 

Then Jack felt something...sort of weird. A cold intrusion, that didn't quite feel solid, pressed into his body. He gasped at the chill of it, and squirmed involuntarily. Gabriel curled his fingers around Jack's erection and stroked, which was an effective distraction, but still he found himself tensing in confusion at the odd sensation. 

The object, whatever it was, that penetrated him slowly shifted inside him. Gradually, it seemed to become more solid, more _substantial_ , filling him up. Jack's breathing sped up, and his heart rate followed suit. Each time he moved, the _something_ brushed against his inner walls now, and sparks of pleasure filled his brain. And all the time, Gabriel jerked him off rhythmically, only adding to the pleasure that overwhelmed him.

"My god," Jack gasped finally. "Gabe, what are you _doing_ to me?"

Gabriel just smiled. He shifted, and the sensation intensified abruptly. Jack felt the intrusion begin to stretch him in earnest, opening him up. "Does it feel good?"

"Yeah," Jack choked. "Fuck, what the hell?" And then it suddenly hit him. The slow filling sensation. The way Gabriel own movements produced an answering movement inside him. "You... you're _wraith_ fucking me?"

"Brilliant, huh?" Gabriel said smugly. And then he drew back a few inches, before pressing forward again. 

There should have been chafing, damnit. But somehow, Gabriel's control was impeccable. Jack felt nothing but the perfect slide of a thick cock into his body, opening him up brutally, but not painfully, and filling him up to the brim. Gabriel's cock certainly felt solid now, especially as it struck his prostate, sending more of those fireworks lighting up his body. Jack suspected that Gabriel _was_ still partially phased, or at least, using the mist somehow to smooth the way.

Either way, Jack was sort of hoping that they never did find a way to reverse what Moira had done to him. 

" _Fuck_ ," Jack gritted, as Gabriel began to thrust into him in earnest, each impact sending wave after wave of pleasure through him. His body was opened completely to Gabriel's penetration, his hips high off the bed and his body braced on his shoulder blades. Jack clutched at the blankets underneath him, in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to anchor himself, as Gabriel fucked him senseless.

Abruptly, Gabriel threw his head back and cried out. Jack was reminded of that night a few days before, when he had heard Gabriel orgasm in the other room. There was that same startled quality, as if Gabriel hadn't expected the orgasm. 

He had no chance to consider that, before Jack's own climax whited out his brain. He arched his back and shuddered, fluids painting his stomach as the wave broke and ecstasy crashed through him.

He didn't feel Gabriel pull out, though in retrospect that was probably the easy part. The next thing he knew, Gabriel had pulled the blankets over them both and curled around him, uncaring of the sticky mess drying on Jack's stomach, or the fluids leaking from between his legs. Truth be told, there was such a relief in all this that Jack didn't care either.

He rolled over and tucked his head under Gabriel's chin, closing his eyes and struggling to catch his breath. Irritatingly, Gabriel was as calm as before. But that was the new normal, too. Jack was just going to have to get used to that.

There was a lot he was going to have to get used to, but he didn't mind. 

"You okay?" Jack grunted, tightening his arms around Gabriel. Immediately, he regretted the question. How could it be okay? Gabriel had been through hell, and the fallout was only just beginning to be worked through.

Nevertheless, Gabriel sighed and answered, "Yeah... Yeah, I am. Better than okay."

"You'll tell me if you're not," Jack replied firmly. 

"I will," Gabriel replied. "I promise."

Jack nodded, and settled down, allowing himself to drift off towards sleep.

~ ~ ~

The Reaper, who was also Gabriel Reyes, held his partner in his arms, and watched him as he dreamed. 

They fit together perfectly, he now realized, and he thought perhaps Jack had come to understand it, too. They were a matched set, but opposites. Darkness and light. Gabriel was Death, but Jack was Life.

He knew now he had been wrong ever to consider trying to change Jack to be more like him. Just as Jack had been wrong to try to change Gabriel. No, this this here. This _exactly_ , was the way it should be. Them, fighting and loving, and being, together.

They were, indeed, beautiful.


End file.
